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PH main stocks index slips but peso keeps pace with US$

Volatility caused the Philippines’ main equities index to finish the week in the red but the peso managed to finish sideways against the US dollar.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 2.58% or 178.20 points to 6,731.25 points. All the other counters also ended the trade in the red, with the All Shares down by 1.97%, or 72.34 points, to 3,605.14 points.

Property led the sectoral gauges in terms of losses after it fell by 3.66%  and was trailed by Services at 2.47%; Industrial, 2.28%; Financials, 2.20%; Holding Firms, 1.73%; and Mining and Oil, 0.96%.

Volume was thin at 840.3 million shares amounting to P7.92 billion. Decliners surpassed advancers at 122 to 64 while 46 shares were unchanged.

“Investors sold off to close the month of April as investors shifted their focus to the upbeat,” said Luis Limlingan, head of sales of Regina Capital Development Corporation, who cited a US government report about the unexpected contraction in the world’s largest economy’s output in the first quarter of 2022 at minus 1.4%.

However, he said, “some investors brushed aside the economic contraction, citing the jump in prices and trade deficit as contributing the most to the decline.”

On the other hand, the local currency finished the day sideways against the US dollar at P52.19 from its P52.27 finish on Thursday.

It opened the day at P52.43, weaker than the previous session’s P52.15. It traded between P52.45 and P52.16, bringing the day’s average to P52.335.  

Volume totaled US$1.2 billion, lower than the US$1.6 billion the previous day. (PNA)

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