MANILA – The local main stocks gauge ended the week’s first trading day in the negative territory due to profit-taking but the local currency closed sideways against the greenback.
The Philippine Stocks Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 0.48 percent, or 32.42 points, to 6,763.92 points.
All Shares followed with a drop of 0.22 percent, or 8.97 points, to 4,099.62 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also finished Monday on the red, led by the Property after it fell by 0.69 percent.
It was trailed by the Financials index, which slipped by 0.61 percent; Holding Firms, 0.51 percent; and Services, 0.12 percent.
On the other hand, Mining and Oil rose by 0.51 percent and Industrial by 0.08 percent.
Volume totaled 1.86 billion shares amounting to PHP4.19 billion.
Gainers led losers at 102 to 100, while 60 shares were unchanged.
“Investors switched to profit taking in the Philippines to start the week as funds went back into the US market after the May nonfarm payrolls report showed a less-than-expected gain -- effectively leading many to bet that the Fed will maintain its easy-money policies for longer,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
The US Labor Department reported that 559,000 new jobs were added into the US economy last May, higher than the upwardly revised 278,000 in the previous month but lower than the 650,000 projection by the market.
Aside from the jobs report, Limlingan said oil prices also factored in during the day’s equities trading after it rose to nearly USD72 per barrel level for the first time since 2019 due to supply limits and higher demand.
Price of Brent crude oil in the international market increased by 0.8 percent to about USD71.89 per barrel while the price of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased by 1.18 percent to around USD69.62 percent, he added.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the trade sideways against the US dollar at 47.66 from 47.75 close last Friday.
It opened the day at 47.68, better than its 47.83 start in the previous session.
It traded between 47.725 and 47.65, resulting in an average of 47.692.
Volume totaled to USD724 million, higher than the previous session’s USD718.1 million. (PNA)
