MANILA – The local main equities index slipped for the third consecutive day on Friday but the peso sustained its strength against the greenback.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.58 percent, or 37.46 points, to 6,378.07 points.
All Shares slipped by 0.51 percent, or 20.22 points, to 3,927.19 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges tracked the main index with the Mining and Oil index declining by 1.63 percent; Holding Firms, 0.89 percent; Property, 0.68 percent; Services, 0.67 percent; and Industrial, 0.21 percent.
Only the Financials index gained during the day as it rose by 0.14 percent.
Volume reached 2.04 billion shares amounting to PHP5.9 billion.
Losers led gainers at 132 to 64, while 47 shares were unchanged.
“Local and regional shares slipped following reports of (US) President (Joe) Biden’s plans to raise the capital gains tax, damping sentiment towards investors,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales.
Citing news reports, Limlingan said there are suggestions that the Biden administration may propose to tax capital gains at the top ordinary-income rate.
He said economic data from the US did not help boost sentiments, referring to the below-expected growth of existing home sales last March after falling by 3.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the peso remained firm against the US dollar after ending the day at 48.381 from 48.41 on Thursday.
It opened the day at 48.39 and traded between 48.4 and 48.36, averaging at 48.383.
Volume totaled USD666.47 million, higher than the previous session’s USD595.5 million. (PNA)
