MANILA – Wait-and-see stance regarding the Philippine economy’s first-quarter output mainly resulted in the jump in the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) Monday but the peso weakened against the greenback.
After a slide in most trading days last week, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.94 percent, or 58.70 points, to 6,317.41 points.
The uptick was mirrored by all the other counters, with the All Shares up by 0.76 percent, or 29.28 points, to 3,906.71 points.
Mining and Oil index registered the highest jump among the sectoral gauges at 1.97 percent and was trailed by the Holding Firms, 1.51 percent; Services, 1.09 percent; Financials, 0.99 percent; Industrial, 0.46 percent; and Property, 0.13 percent.
Volume totaled 2.05 billion shares amounting to PHP4.57 billion.
Gainers led losers at 116 to 97, while 46 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares closed higher as bets began to pour on the latest 1Q (first quarter) GDP (gross domestic product) figures, more earnings releases, and the possible easing of US monetary policy following the weaker April jobs report,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is scheduled to report the country’s first-quarter GDP on Tuesday.
Analysts expect a rebound to positive territory for the domestic economy in the first three months of this year after the negative prints last year amid the pandemic.
On other factors in the movement of equities trading, Limlingan said “investors believe easy monetary policies will power the US market’s historic rebounds and will stay in place for longer.”
Meanwhile, the peso did not track the gains in the local bourse after it ended the day’s trade at 47.865 from 47.855 last Friday.
The local currency improved to the 47-level against the US dollar in the latter part of last week, and this continued at the start of this week when the local currency opened at 47.8 from 47.92 a day ago.
It only improved up to 47.79 during the day and dipped to 47.877. This resulted in an average of 47.825.
Volume totaled USD715.25 million, lower than the previous session’s USD985.37 million. (PNA)
