By Joann Villanueva
MANILA – S&P Global Ratings’ affirmation of its investment-grade rating for the Philippines on Thursday has benefited both the Peso and the local bourse. The credit rater, in a report, noted the slowdown in government spending due to investigations into flood control projects, but believes it is only temporary.
Thus, it also maintains its positive outlook for the country’s ‘BBB+’ long-term rating and the ‘A-2’ short-term rating.
With these developments, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi), which was in a see-saw movement this week, ended the day up by 0.89% to 6,022.24 points, and the broader All Shares by 0.85% to 3,568.34 points
All the sectoral gauges also ended the week up, led by the Mining and Oil sector after it rose 4%, followed by the Holding Firms, 1.75%; Financials, 1.30%; Industrial, 0.89%; Property, 0.43%; and Services, 0.01%.
Volume reached 1.53 billion shares, amounting to PHP5.52 billion. Advancers led decliners at 115 to 68, while 59 shares were unchanged. The Philippine peso also gained against the U.S. dollar and finished the week at 58.64 from day-ago’s 58.76.
It opened the trade sideways at 58.73 and ranged between 58.6 and 58.8. Average for the day stood at 58.72. Volume totaled to USD1.27 billion, up from USD1.08 billion. (PNA)