MANILA – Philippine peso improved to the greenback Thursday but concerns on the US-China trade discussions hurt the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) anew.
The local currency ended the day at 50.68 from 50.82 a day ago, which a trader pointed to reports about Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s positive outlook on the US economy during his testimony at the US Congress.
The trader said Powell’s sentiment boosted investors’ sentiment thus, the impact on the local currency.
The peso opened the day slightly weaker at 50.93 from 50.86 a day ago.
It surged to 50.68 but also touched 50.95, resulting in an average of 50.826.
The volume reached USD1.17 billion, higher than the USD1.46 billion a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.60 and 50.80 on Friday.
On the other hand, the main equities gauge shed 0.17 percent, or 13.76 points, to 7,933.71 points.
All Shares also ended in the red after losing 0.13 percent, or 6.16 points, to 4,757.73 points.
Most of the sectors also lost during the day, led by the Industrial which dropped 1.75 percent, and was followed by the Holding Firms, 0.12 percent; Services, 0.03 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.02 percent.
Property gained 0.29 percent and Financials by 0.06 percent.
Volume totaled to 655.29 million shares amounting to PHP4.18 billion.
Losers continued to surpass gainers at 107 to 78, while 55 shares were unchanged.
“Net foreign selling pulled down the PSEi below the 8,000 level,” BPI Research said in a report.
Citing news reports, BPI Research said US-China trade talks “have hit a roadblock” since China does not want to give specific figures on its agricultural procurements from the US while US prod China to regulate intellectual property protections and end forced technology transfers. (PNA)
