MANILA – The Philippines’ main equities index ended the week in the red following the higher-than-expected jobless claims in the United States, but the peso strengthened against the US dollar.
After a two-day rally, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.42 percent, or 29.28 points, to 6,923.60 points.
All Shares, on the other hand, moved sideways with a rise of 0.02 percent, or 0.67 points, to 4,326.51 points.
The majority of the sectoral indexes also gained during the day – Mining and Oil, 1.25 percent; Services, 0.70 percent; Financials, 0.57 percent; and Industrial, 0.43 percent.
On the other hand, Property fell by 1.14 percent and Holding Firms by 0.99 percent.
Volume totaled 2.32 billion shares amounting to PHP21.99 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 103 to 86 while 53 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine equities dropped to start October as initial jobless claims for the prior week came in at 362,000, beating the consensus estimates of 330,000,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales.
He said the main index also tracked the S&P 500, which fell by 4.9 percent, and the Dow Jones, which declined by 5.3 percent, both posting the worst since March 2020.
On the other hand, the local currency finished the day at 50.79 from 51.00 to the US dollar on Thursday.
It opened the day at 50.96 and traded between 50.97 and 50.78, averaging at 50.891.
Volume went down to USD882.16 million from USD1.104 billion in the previous session. (PNA)
