MANILA -- The Philippine peso improved against the US dollar Monday but the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped for the second day in a row on trade war concerns between the US and China.
The local unit finished the week’s first trading day at 52.215 from 52.39 at the end of last week, which a trader also attributed to quiet trading ahead of the long weekend due to the Holy Week.
It opened at 52.37, weaker than the 52.25 in the previous session.
It traded between its opening level and 52.210, resulting in an average of 52.286.
Volume of trade reached USD690.9 million, down from the USD701.2 million at the end of last week.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 52.10 and 52.30 Tuesday.
On the other hand, PSEi shed 0.48 percent, or 38.42 points, to 7,932.38 points, which another trader pointed to fears of a trade war between two of the world’s largest economies.
Although reports said China has made some efforts to prevent a trade war with the US, the trader said investors are still worried about the present situation.
Thus, most of the indexes finished the day on the red, with the All Shares down by 0.57 percent, or 27.49 points to 4,796.67 points.
Five of the six sectoral counters followed, led by the Services, which declined by 1.55 percent; Property dropped by 0.77 percent, Financials, 0.61 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.25 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.20 percent.
Only the Industrial index posted gains of 0.35 percent.
Volume reached 1.75 billion shares amounting to PHP6.3 billion.
Losers led gainers at 138 to 65 while 41 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
