MANILA -- Fears of a contagion from the Turkish financial crisis persisted Thursday, erasing the gains of the Philippines Stock Exchange index (PSEi). The Peso, however, hardly budged, finishing the day at 53.44 from 53.47 Wednesday, which a trader said was helped by the improvement of the Chinese Yuan.
News about the scheduled meeting between US and Chinese authorities later this month to possibly settle trade issues lifted the Yuan, which in turn affected the Peso.
The local unit opened the day almost unchanged at 53.47 from the previous session’s 53.45. It improved to 53.37 mid-trade but also slipped to 53.5, resulting in an average of 53.443.
Volume of trade rose to USD844.1 million from the previous day’s USD585.9 million.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.30 and 53.50 Friday.
On the other hand, the main equities index declined by 0.31 percent, or 23.56 points, to 7,517.36 points.
Regina Capital Managing Director Luis Limlingan, in response to an e-mail from the Philippine News Agency (PNA), said concerns of a contagion spreading from the currency crisis in Turkey continue to worry investors.
Aside from this, decline of growth of remittances to the Philippines last June contributed to investors’ worries, he said.
On Wednesday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported a 4.5-percent drop in cash remittances in the sixth month of the year from a growth of 6.9 percent in the previous month.
Cash remittances in the first half of 2018 rose 2.7 percent but this was lower than the 4.7 percent logged in the same period in 2017.
Another factor to the negative close of the PSEi Thursday was the drop in oil prices in the international market on account of the unexpected rise of US crude stocks, which resulted in a 3-percent decline in the prices of US light crude and a 2.3-percent contraction of Brent crude price.
The decline of PSEi was mirrored by All Shares, which slid by 0.21 percent, or 9.65 points, to 4,585.40 points.
Most of the sectors also finished the day down, led by Industrial at 0.98 percent.
It was followed by Holding Firms, 0.56 percent; Services, 0.08 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.02 percent; and Property, 0.01 percent.
Only Financials gained during the day after it rose 0.15 percent.
Volume totaled 1.01 billion shares amounting to PHP5.4 billion.
Decliners led advancers at 108 to 91 while 49 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
