MANILA – Both the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) and the peso ended on Thursday sideways after investors chose safe haven assets following the inauguration of US President Joe Biden as the 46th president.
The main equities gauge slipped by 0.04 percent, or 3.01 points, to 7,140.29 points.
All Shares declined by 0.45 percent, or 19.14 points, to 4,280.98 points.
Most of the sectoral indexes also ended the day in the negative territory, with Mining and Oil posting the biggest drop at 1.63 percent.
Industrial index declined by 0.73 percent, Services by 0.34 percent, and Holding Firms by 0.05 percent.
On the other hand, Financials increased by 0.30 percent and Property by 0.26 percent.
Volume totaled 102.66 billion shares amounting to PHP12.51 billion.
Decliners surpassed advancers at 169 to 66, while 39 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares were quietly sold down as investors flocked back into the US with the peaceful transition of power of Joe Biden as the 46th president,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
Citing reports, Limlingan said the Biden administration targets to reverse some of the Trump administration’s policies on environmental deregulation, such as stricter fuel efficiency standards, increased renewable energy targets, increased environmental review of proposed infrastructure projects, and reduced exemptions from environmental standards for small fuel refineries.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day sideways against the US dollar at 48.054 from 48.06 Wednesday.
It opened the day at 48.04 and traded between 48.058 and 48.035. This brought the day’s average to 48.047.
Volume totaled to USD599.4 million, lower than day-ago’s USD727.5 million. (PNA)
