MANILA – After gaining on the first day of trading this year, local shares fell on Wednesday, mirroring drops in the United States’ markets, while the peso rebounded.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 55.16 points to 6,498.88 points, with the broader All Shares declining by 15.73 points to 3,450.24.
All sectoral indices finished the day in the red territory.
“The PSEi corrected lower, considered a healthy profit-taking after rising sharply in the first trading day of the year,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said.
Ricafort said this is “similar to the overnight downward correction in the US stock markets, which mostly corrected slightly lower for the second straight day.”
On the local front, the economist added that the PSEi corrected lower due to a new record-high outstanding national government debt and a lower three-year Treasury bond auction yield.
Trading stops
During this day’s trading, the PSE halted the trading at 9:32 a.m. It resumed at 11:56 a.m. and afternoon trading continued as scheduled.
“The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. encountered a technical issue that prompted it to halt trading at 9:32 a.m. on January 3, 2024, Wednesday,” the PSE said in a statement. “PSE and its third-party front-end system provider continue to investigate the matter to identify the root cause.”
Meanwhile, the Philippine peso rebounded by 0.10 on Wednesday, closing trading at 55.57 to a US dollar from last day’s finish of 55.67 to the greenback.
It opened the day weak at 55.70 from the 55.45 kick-off on Tuesday.
The currency pair traded between 55.57 and 55.82, bringing the average level for the day at 55.71 to a dollar.
The volume of trade surged to USD1.88 billion from last day’s volume of USD1.26 billion.
“For tomorrow, the peso exchange rate could range at 55.5 to 55.70 levels,” Ricafort forecast. (PNA)
