MANILA – Risk-on sentiments again lifted the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Thursday but the peso weakened against the US dollar.
The main equities gauge rose by 0.57 percent, or 38.33 points, to 6,718.51 points.
All Shares increased by 0.56 percent, or 23.22 points, to 4,141.63 points.
Bulk of the sectoral counters tracked the main index, led by the Holding Firms which jumped by 1.02 percent.
It was trailed by the Industrial index, 0.70 percent, Property, 0.60 percent; and Services, 0.29 percent.
On the other hand, the Mining and Oil index fell by 1.82 percent and Financials by 0.13 percent.
Volume reached 1.30 billion shares amounting to PHP5.28 billion.
Losers surpassed gainers at 95 to 88, while 46 shares were unchanged.
“Investors continued their focus on the Philippines for the fourth straight day as they digested the Fed’s (Federal Reserve) July Committee (meeting) minutes that showed most officials support tapering the monthly asset purchases before year-end,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
Among the factors for Friday’s trading is the announcement regarding the quarantine classification for Metro Manila, which is under a two-week enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) until Friday.
Meanwhile, the peso weakened against the US dollar after finishing the trade at 50.55 from the previous day’s 50.43.
Its weakness showed early on after starting the day at 50.48 compared to the 50.37 opening in the previous session.
It traded between 50.62 and 50.4, resulting in an average of 50.513.
Volume reached USD1.084 billion, higher than the previous day’s USD796.1 million. (PNA)
