MANILA – The local bourse declined for two consecutive days as investors continued to take profit, while the Philippine peso closed sideways Tuesday.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) finished this day’s trading lower by 30.82 points at 6,860.67, with All Shares also closing lower by 17.40 points at 3,583.09.
Most sectoral indices closed in the negative territory, with the biggest losses coming from the Mining and Oil counter, plunging by 167.09 points to 8,551.89.
Other counters closing in the red territory were Property, Holding Firms, and Financials.
Only Services and Industrial recorded gains at 19.45 and 4.24 points, respectively.
“The local market extended its decline… as investors continued to take profits amid the lack of a fresh positive catalyst on the local economy’s outlook. The local bourse also took cues from Wall Street’s overnight decline wherein investors took a cautious stance while waiting for upcoming US economic data including the January personal consumption expenditure price index,” Philstocks Financial Inc. senior research analyst Japhet Tantiangco said.
“While the market was down, foreigners were still net buyers with net inflows amounting to PHP77.08 million. Trading was somehow strong with net value turnover posting PHP5.21 billion, higher than the year-to-date daily average of PHP4.54 billion,” Tantiangco added.
Decliners led advancers at 112 to 63, leaving 49 counters stable.
Meanwhile, the peso closed weaker by 0.02 at 56.08 versus the US dollar from 56.20 in the previous day.
It already opened the day weak at 56.10 from last day’s kick-off at 55.94 to a dollar.
It traded between 56.04 and 56.18, bringing the average level for the day at 56.11 to the greenback.
The volume of trade jumped to USD1.74 billion, higher than Monday’s volume of USD982.3 million. (PNA)
