MANILA -- Foreign selling, triggered by concerns over the US-China trade war, once again spread bearishness in the Philippines equities market Thursday and resulted in a flat close for the peso against the greenback.
The peso finished the trade at 54.18, which a trader said is in line with counterparts in the region.
This, as investors remained in the sidelines given the new developments in the trade issues between two of the world’s largest economies.
For the day, the local currency opened little changed at 54.22 from 54.19 Wednesday.
It traded between 54.28 and 54.16, resulting in an average of 54.238.
Volume declined to USD665 million from USD720.8 million a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 54.10 and 54.30 Friday.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) sustained its slide and finished the day at 6,884.38 points, down 1.67 percent or 116.76 points.
All the other counters also ended on the red, led by All Shares, which fell 1.34 percent, or 57.49 points, to 4,241.25 points.
Holding Firms registered the highest drop among the sectors after it went down by 2.27 percent. It was followed by Property, 2.12 percent; Services, 1.94 percent; Financials, 1.06 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.83 percent; and Industrial, 0.17 percent.
Volume reached 1.03 billion shares amounting to PHP5.43 billion.
Decliners continue to surpass advancers at 167 to 39 while 34 stocks were unchanged. (PNA)
