Peso, PSEi up on profit-taking

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MANILA — Profit-taking ruled both the currency and equities trading Thursday, a day after a trading suspension due to Typhoon “Glenda.”

The peso gained P0.11 and finished the day at P43.50 from P43.61 Tuesday.

“There was a general weakening of the dollar in the region. The P43.61 is a good level to take profit,” a trader told PNA in an interview.

“There was also bargain hunting in the PSE and this benefited the peso,” the trader added.

The peso started the day on a weaker note at P43.62.

Its closing level is the local unit’s strongest trade for the day while weakest is P43.63.

This brought the day’s average at P43.55, sideways from the P43.59 last Tuesday.

Volume of trade reached US$ 595.4 million, lower than the US$ 846.3 million in the previous trading.

The peso is expected to trade in a tight range until the end of the month when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy-making Monetary Board (MB) meets to decide on the central bank’s policy stance.

For Friday, the peso is projected to trade between P43.40 and P43.60.

Relatively, the local bourse ended Thursday with gains even after a trading suspension because of Typhoon “Glenda”.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went up by 0.49 percent or 33.32 to 6,867.36 points.

All the other counters tracked the main index led by the mining and oil with 1.02 percent or 167.64 points to 16,655.10 points.

Volume of trade is thin at 668.73 million amounting to P7.7 billion.

Gainers led losers at 88 to 81 while 50 were unchanged.