Improvement in geo-political situation overseas lifts peso, PSEi Monday

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MANILA — Pull-out of Russian troops from borders near Ukraine and a fresh 72-hour ceasefire in Israel and Gaza fueled both the Philippine peso and the local bourse Monday.

The local currency capped the day at P43.86, way better than the P43.13 Friday last week.

A trader said investors’ sentiment turned bullish following the improvements in the geo-political situation in Russia and the Middle East.

From a P44.13 start in the previous trading, the peso opened weaker for the week at P43.95.

However, it improved to P43.95 despite going down to P43.98 level.

This brought the day’s average at P43.92, way better than the P44.17 at the end of last week.

Volume of trade reached US$ 957.4 million, a drop from the US$ 1.38 billion in the previous trading.

Relatively, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 1.11 percent or 76.32 points to 6,956.66 points.

All the sectoral index followed suit led by the services, which expanded by 1.59 percent; property, 1.18 percent and holding firms, 1.08 percent.

Volume of trade reached 1.74 billion amounting to P9.89 billion.

Gainers led losers at 104 to 73 while 46 were unchanged.

The trader said the peso is expected to recover this week if the current situation in the conflict-riden areas will continue.