MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) continued its gains, ending the week on a four-day rally, while the peso closed weaker but did not fall to 56-level.
The PSEi closed the week at 6,913.21, gaining 10.6 points, with All shares finishing higher by 6.29 points to 3,608.12 level.
Philstocks Financial, Inc. assistant research manager Claire Alviar said the local bourse traded nearly the 7,000-mark at 6,990.65 but last-minute profit-taking slashed the value.
Alviar attributed PSEi's increments to positive cues from the United States markets overnight and rosy economic outlook in the Philippines.
"US investors continued to be cheered by the earnings season, pushing the S&P 500 to a record high. The positive sentiment spilled over to the Philippines, especially since the local earnings have been good so far. Adding to the positive sentiment was the upward revision of Moody’s Analytics of PH economic forecast growth to 5.8 percent, expecting the country to be the third fastest growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region for this year," she said.
Four counters closed in the green territory, with highest gains coming from Industrial, up by 0.55 percent, followed by Property (+0.40 percent), Services (+0.34 percent), and Financials (+0.23 percent).
Losers were Mining and Oil and Holding Firms, whose shares declined by 0.86 and 0.33 percent, respectively.
Gainers led losers at 98 to 73, with 51 issues left unchanged.
Meanwhile, peso closed weak Friday but maintained to trade at 55-level.
The local currency shed 0.19 to 55.90 to a US dollar from 55.71 on Thursday.
It opened the day at 55.80 and traded from a low of 55.74 to a high of 55.97 to the greenback.
The weighted average level for the day stood at 55.85 to a dollar.
Trade volume slightly increased to USD1.25 billion from USD1.24 billion the previous day. (PNA)
