MANILA – The local stock barometer took a breather on Wednesday despite the volatility caused by the Ukraine-Russia problem while the local currency finished the day sideways against the US dollar.
After several days of finishing in the negative territory, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 0.17 percent, or 12.15 points, to 6,989.88 points.
All Shares slid by 0.19 percent, or 7.17 points, to 3,732.35 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also finished the day up-- Financials, 1.44 percent; Services, 1.15 percent; Industrial, 0.81 percent; and Property, 0.09 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil slipped by 6.83 percent and Holding Firms by 1.25 percent.
Volume reached 16.8 billion shares amounting to PHP10.73 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 102 to 108, while 33 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine shares closed slightly higher in a still wildly volatile trading week as investors assessed the implications of the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the trajectory of global growth,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales.
Oil prices rose further following US President Joe Biden’s remarks that the US will ban Russian oil importation.
Prices of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil jumped by as much as 7 percent but finished the day up by 3.6 percent to USD123.7 per barrel, while Brent crude oil rose by 4.3 percent to USD123.21 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the local currency ended the day’s trade at 52.23 from the previous session’s 52.32 finish.
It opened the day at 52.28 and traded between 52.31 and 52.15.
The average level for the day stood at 52.239.
Volume reached USD1.14 billion, lower than the previous day’s USD1.33 billion. (PNA)
