MANILA -- The Philippine peso continued to languish at a fresh 12-year low as the local stocks sustained its downturn on Thursday.
The local currency shed 4 centavos, finishing the day’s trade at 53.27 from the previous session’s 53.23.
It opened the day at 53.30 and reached an intra-day low of 53.37.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed anew and ended the day at 7,529.54 points, down by 0.97 percent, or 73.44 points.
Almost all the other counters mirrored the main gauge, with All Shares declining by 0.78 percent, 36.17 points, to 4,593.18 points.
Property suffered the biggest loss at 3.11 percent, followed by Financial, 1.12 percent; Industrial, 0.28 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.19 percent; and Services, 0.10 percent.
Only Holding Firms registered an uptick at 0.11 percent.
Volume totaled 940 million shares amounting to PHP12.3 billion.
Losers led gainers at 110 to 76 while 57 shares were unchanged.
Investment analyst Astro del Castillo said the strengthening US dollar coupled by the US Fed's decision to hike interest rates by another 25-basis points today, has made dollar assets far more attractive to investors. He explained that financial and capital markets overseas have simply become collateral damage to the improving US economy. (PNA)
