Peso, PSEi up Thursday

MANILA — Signing into law of the first package of the Duterte administration’s tax reform program continues to boost the Philippine peso as well as the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) Thursday.

The local currency finished the day at 50.24 from 50.29 a day ago, which a trader pointed to investors’ optimism on the impact of the tax reform program on the domestic economy.

The trader said the local currency also got a boost from the positive close in the equities market, which transpired even ahead of the signing by US President Donald Trump of the proposed tax reform in the world’s largest economy.

It opened the day at 50.10, an improvement from the 50.25 in the previous session.

It traded between its opening level and 50.26, resulting to an average of 50.194.

Volume for the day reached USD630.2 million, higher than the USD490.8 million Wednesday.

The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.10 and 50.30 Friday.

PSEi sustained its positive trend and ended the day at 8,378.28 points, up 0.19 percent or 15.67 points.

However, the broader All Shares ended the day with a 0.02 percent, or 0.82 points, loss to 4,892.80 points.
It was also a mix among the sectors with Industrial, Holding Firms, Property and Financials rising by 0.48 percent, 0.32 percent, 0.16 percent, and 0.03 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Mining and Oil fell by 1.24 percent and Services by 0.18 percent, which a trader pointed to worries on the impact of the tax reform, which hikes excise taxes on oil and coal.

Volume for the day reached 1.13 billion shares amounting to PHP6.31 billion.

Losers led gainers at 104 to 101 while 41 shares were unchanged. (PNA)