PSEi rises anew as PHP stays firm amid US strength

MANILA—Philippines’ equities market rose for the fifth consecutive day Wednesday amid profit-taking while the peso remained strong on back of some risk-off sentiment ahead of the announcement of the Trump administration’s tax reform package.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 0.34 percent, or 25.99 points, to 7,726.45 percent, a level last seen in the last quarter of 2016.

A trader said positive earnings report of listed companies buoyed the main stocks index despite the pull of profit-takers.

All Shares tracked the main index with an increase of 0.35 percent, or 15.92 points, to 4,612.80 points.

Most of the sectoral indices posted expansion, spearheaded by the Services with a 1.44 percent increase.

It was followed by the Mining and Oil, 0.36 percent; Holding Firms, 0.29 percent; Property, 0.14 percent; and Industrial, 0.03 percent.

Only the Financials index finished the day on the red with a 0.02 percent decline.

Volume for the day totaled to 1.73 billion shares amounting to Php 6.5 billion.

Gainers led losers at 98 to 81 while 55 shares were unchanged.

The local currency finished the day at 49.72 from 49.64 Tuesday.

Another trader explained that the peso remained strong amid the dollar regaining strength in the morning session on news about Trump’s soon-to-be unveiled tax program.

The unit opened the day at 49.65, weaker than the 49.55 a day ago.

Its opening level was the peso’s strongest for the day after it dipped to 49.78 mid-trade, which resulted to an average of 49.70 for the day.

Volume of trade reached USD 436.5 million, higher than the USD 339.4 million a day ago.

The currency pair is seen to trade between 49.60 and 49.80 Thursday.