MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained anew Tuesday amid a smaller contraction in the first-quarter domestic output but the peso ended the day sideways against the US dollar.
The main equities index rose by 0.15 percent, or 9.42 points, to 6,326.83 points.
All Shares ended sideways after rising by 0.03 percent, or 1.25 points, to 3,907.96 points.
The Holding Firms and Property indexes both rose by 0.29 percent; while the Services index was unchanged.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil fell by 2.93 percent, Financials by 0.31 percent, and Industrial by 0.15 percent.
Volume totaled 9.95 billion amounting to PHP4.64 billion.
“Philippine shares closed in the green despite the lower-than-expected 1Q GDP (first-quarter gross domestic product) print as investors focused on the rebalancing of the MSCI, and more earnings releases,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
The government on Tuesday reported the -4.2 percent output of the domestic economy in the first quarter of this year, better than the -8.3 percent in the previous quarter, but lower than the -0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2020.
Limlingan said expectations point to an improved GDP in the second quarter due to the low-base last year with a print of -17 percent, and the increase in the number of people being vaccinated by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines, which is a plus for the continued reopening of the domestic economy.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day sideways against the US dollar at 47.81 from 47.865 a day ago.
It opened the trade at 47.9 and traded between 47.92 and 47.81.
The average level for the day stood at 47.87.
The volume of trade amounted to PHP837 million, higher than the previous day’s USD715.25 million. (PNA)
