PSEi surges anew; peso slightly down

MANILA — The Philippines’ main equities index sustained improvement on Thursday  while the peso displays a little change as investors continue to have positive outlook of the domestic economy.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose  0.18 percent, or 15.70 points, to 8,739.83 points, which a trader pointed to positive sentiment in the market.

First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) projects the main index to hit 9,400-level this year, to be boosted property, banks, conglomerates among others.

The good turn-out of the main index was tracked by the broader All Shares, which rose 0.10 percent, or 5.10 points, to 5,059.75 points.

It was, however, a mix among the sectoral gauges with Holding Firms, Financials, and Industrial increasing by 0.68 percent, 0.51 percent, and 0.40 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Services declined by 1.12 percent followed by Mining and Oil, 0.60 percent, and Property, 0.35 percent.

Volume for the day rose to 1.03 billion shares amounting to PHP9.2 billion.

Losers led gainers at 121 to 86 while 47 shares were unchanged.

The peso ended the week’s second trading day at 49.82 from the more than six-month high of 49.81 in the previous session.

It opened the trading weaker at 49.90 from day-ago’s 49.80.

It traded between 49.93 and 49.805, resulting to an average of 49.879.

Volume for the day amounted to USD519.25 million, lower than the previous day’s USD634.2 million.

The currency pair is seen to trade between 49.80 and 50.00 Friday. (PNA)