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MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed on Tuesday, pulled by the same path for United States equities, but the peso gained against the US dollar.
After the day’s trading, the local bourse’s main index slipped by 0.31 percent, or 20.24 points, to 6,502.85 points.
All Shares followed with a drop of 0.19 percent, or 6.65 points, to 3,463.81 points.
Most of the sectoral indices also closed in the negative territory, led by Mining and Oil, which declined 0.92 percent; Holding Firms, 0.79 percent; Property, 0.45 percent; and Financials, 0.30 percent.
On the other hand, Services gained by 1.14 percent and Industrial by 0.22 percent.
Volume reached 562.94 million shares amounting to PHP4.16 billion.
Decliners surpassed advancers at 84 to 82 while 55 shares were unchanged.
“Local shares were sold this time, as the shortened week continued with Tuesday ending in the red, this time with sentiment being dragged by the US tech sell-off,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales.
He said investors are also waiting for the release of the latest US data on home sales, durable goods, and consumer confidence.
“Additionally, they will also watch for developments out of Russia following the brief rebellion seen over the weekend,” he said, referring to the attempted rebellion by the private army of mercenaries known as the Wagner group, which has been fighting along with the Russian army in Ukraine.
Oil prices also fell “tracking a broader calm in financial markets as investors watched warily to see if there’ll be further fallout from an attempted insurrection in Russia that could disrupt energy supplies from one of the world’s largest oil producer nations.”
Meanwhile, the peso improved against the US dollar after it ended the day at 55.32 from 55.7 the previous day.
It started the day at 55.67, better than its 55.77 start in the previous session, trading between 55.7 and 55.3 and resulting in an average of 55.51.
Volume reached USD1.03 billion, up from Monday’s USD646.4 million.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort traced the peso’s performance to the general weakening of the US dollar, the launch of the Philippine peso-US dollar cross-currency swaps that would allow banks and their clients to hedge foreign exchange and interest rate risks, as well as the report about the lower government budget gap in May 2023.
He forecast the peso to trade between 55.25 and 55.45 against the US dollar on Thursday. (PNA)
