MANILA – Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) posted its latest record high for 2017 after hitting 8,037.51 points Wednesday but the peso made a turnaround and weakened against the greenback.
The main stocks gauge rose 0.83 percent, or 65.79 points, which the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) called, in a statement, as “the highest for the index since August 10, 2016 when it closed at 8,051.40 points.” Since the start of the year, PSEi has risen by 17.5 percent.
The broader All Shares went up 0.56 percent, or 26.47 points, to 4,779.80 points.
Most of the sectoral indices tracked the PSEi, with Property posting the highest uptick of 1.68 percent.
Other gainers are Mining and Oil, 1.02 percent; Holding Firms, 0.77 percent; Services, 0.50 percent; and Financials, 0.44 percent.
On the other hand, Industrial coughed up 0.32 percent.
Volume for the day reached 1.82 billion shares amounting to P8.17 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 98 to 94 while 60 shares were unchanged.
A trader pointed the improvement of PSEI to the same results of Wall Street overnight ahead of the end of the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) two-day meeting later in the day.
Another trader said investors also looked into developments on the administration’s proposed tax reforms following the submission by President Duterte, after his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, of the proposed P3.767-trillion 2018 national budget.
On the other hand, the peso shed P0.10 and ended the day at 50.64 from day-ago’s 50.54 close. A trader attributed this to risk-off attitude as investors awaited the FOMC decision.
The unit started the day at 50.65, better than its 50.80 opening level in the previous session.
It traded between 50.73 and 50.48 resulting to an average of 50.58.
Volume of trade reached USD932 million, higher than the USD738.75 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.40 and 50.60 Thursday.
