MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined Thursday ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday but the peso managed to remain firm against the greenback.
The main equities index shed 1.29 percent, or 91.14 points, to 6,991.01 points.
All Shares went down by 0.89 percent, or 37.85 points, to 4,222.96 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also ended the day in the negative territory, led by the Holding Firms after it fell by 1.74 percent.
It was followed by the Property index which declined by 1.42 percent; Industrial, 1.26 percent; and Services, 0.45 percent.
On the other hand, Financials rose by 0.19 percent and Mining and Oil by 0.13 percent.
Volume totaled 22.92 billion shares amounting to PHP15.09 billion.
Losers led gainers at 131 to 95, while 44 shares were unchanged.
Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, attributed the negative close of the PSEi to investors’ decision to monitor earnings reports by listed companies and the tame inflation rate in the US last January, which rose 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent last December.
“Others realigned portfolios to match that of the recalibrated PSE index which takes effects on Monday, February 15,” he said.
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) earlier said there would be no changes in the composition of the main index based on the regular stock performance review for 2020.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day sideways against the US dollar at 48.045 from 48.038 Wednesday.
It opened the day at 48.04 and traded between 48.049 and 48.023. Average level for the day stood at 48.032.
Volume totaled to USD727.5 million, lower than the previous day’s USD897.5 million. (PNA)
