MANILA – Following the local stock market’s gain for two consecutive days, profit-taking shed the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Friday, while the peso ended the week sideways.
The PSEi declined by 0.23 percent to 6,492.75 after returning to the 6,500-level the previous day, after nearly a month of trading below this level, or since June 10.
All Shares also decreased by 0.20 percent to 3,508.99.
“The market mostly traded in the green as investors reacted positively to the June inflation rate, which slowed to 3.7 percent from the previous month and was near the lower-end of the BSP's (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) forecast,” Philstock Financials, Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.
Alviar said the last-minute profit taking pulled down the PSEi’s performance at the end of the week.
Sectoral indices were mixed with winners include Financials (+0.22 percent), Property (+0.21 percent), and Holding Firms (+0.15 percent). Losers were Services (-1.43 percent), Mining and Oil (-0.49 percent), and Industrial (-0.16 percent).
Those in the red territory outnumbered those in the green at 94 to 90, with 63 counters maintaining their shares.
Meanwhile, the Philippine peso closed the week sideways, slightly gaining by 0.05 to close at 58.53 to the US dollar from 58.58 on Thursday.
It opened the day at 58.54 from last day’s kick-off at 58.63.
Foreign exchange rate ranged from 58.51 to 58.60, bringing the average level for the day at 58.56 to the greenback.
Volume of trade dropped to USD836 million from the previous day’s USD1.1 billion. (PNA)
