PSEi sustains rally, Peso stays firm

MANILA — Bargain hunting sustained Philippine Stock Exchange index’ (PSEi) rally Thursday and the Peso remained firm amidst geopolitical uncertainties created by US-Russia tensions.

The country’s main stocks gauge rose for the second day in a row and went up to the 8,000-level after rising 1.25 percent, or 99.14 points to 8,043.07 points.

A trader said investors took advantage of the index’ recent slide to buy stocks and disregarded the escalating US-Russia issue on Syria.

All the other counters tracked the main index, with the All Shares up by 0.94 percent, or 45.11 points, to 4,858.82 points.

The sectors were led by the Mining and Oil, which surged 3.25 percent, and was followed by the Property, 1.68 percent; Financials, 1.56 percent; Services, 1.41 percent; Industrial, 0.83 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.64 percent.

Volume totalled to 1.45 billion shares amounting to Php5.94 billion.

Advancers surpassed decliners at 108 to 94 while 45 shares were unchanged.

Also, the local currency finished the day at 52.03 from 51.94 Wednesday.

A trader said risk-off sentiment was noted most of the day in the currency market given the US-Russia conflict but the peso kept its footing.

The dollar got a boost from the hawkish sentiment of US monetary officials after minutes of the Federal Open Market  Committee (FOMC) meeting last March indicated possible rate hikes  in the coming months on hopes that inflation will eventually pick-up and stay within the Federal Reserve’s two percent target.

With these factors in play, the local currency opened the day at 51.99, sideways from its 51.92 start in the previous day.

It traded between 51.97 and 52.05, bringing the day’s average to 52.01.

Volume reached USD627.2 million, up from the previous session’s USD583.6 million.

On Friday, the peso is forecast to trade between 51.90 and 52.10 to a Greenback.