MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) started the week in the negative territory as investors stayed on the sidelines after its recent rally but the peso gained against the greenback.
The main equities index shed 0.69 percent, or 46.02 points, to 6,628.49 points.
All Shares followed with a drop of 0.61 percent, or 24.65 points, to 4,022.83 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also ended the day on the red, led by the Property after it fell by 1.48 percent.
It was trailed by Services index, 1.14 percent; Industrial, 0.58 percent; Holding Firms, 0.30 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.06 percent.
Only the Financials index gained during the day after it rose by 0.07 percent.
Volume totaled 1.39 billion shares amounting to PHP5.39 billion.
Losers led gainers at 103 to 85, while 57 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares closed lower after several days of successive gains last week as the index consolidated in the 6,500 to 6,700 range,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
Limlingan said lack of leads also resulted in the negative close of the main index partly because of the Memorial Day holiday in the US on Tuesday.
Investors are also waiting for the initial public offering (IPO) listing of Monde Nissin on Tuesday, he added.
Meanwhile, the peso strengthened against the US dollar after ending the trade at 47.695 from 47.8 at the end of last week.
Its appreciation showed early on after it opened the day at 47.75, a jump from its 47.97 start in the previous session.
It traded between 47.76 and 47.69, resulting in an average of 47.723.
Volume of trade reached USD878.5 million, lower than the USD1.056 billion last Friday. (PNA)
