PSEi sustains rally, peso little changed

The Philippine peso ended the week practically unchanged on Friday, but bargain hunting sustained the Philippine Stock Exchange index’s (PSEi) uptrend for the fourth consecutive session. (Shutterstock)

MANILA — The Philippine peso ended the week practically unchanged on Friday, but bargain hunting sustained the Philippine Stock Exchange index’s (PSEi) uptrend for the fourth consecutive session.

The country’s main stocks gauge gained 0.66 percent, or 48.60 points, to 7,399.18 points.

Almost all indices posted increases with the All Shares up by 0.44 percent, or 19.69 points, to 4,474.89 points.

The sectors were led by Property after it went up by 0.86 percent, followed by Holding Firms, 0.78 percent; Industrial, 0.55 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.40 percent; and Financials, 0.09 percent.

Only Services ended in the red with a 0.08 percent decrease.

The volume for the day reached 1.49 billion shares amounting to PHP5.455 billion.

Gainers led losers at 103 to 91 while 46 shares were unchanged.

Meanwhile, the local currency finished virtually flat at PHP53.51 from Thursday’s PHP53.50 to the greenback.

It opened at PHP52.435, stronger than the PHP53.55 start in the previous session. Its intraday high peaked at PHP53.40.

Philstocks Financial research head JC Calaycay said the bargain hunting spree was inevitable, given the depths the local bourse has dived in recent weeks. He explained that investors have already digested all the negative news and the market seems primed for recovery once again.

The fact that the market was able to hover above the 2,500-point support level is a confidence building indication, Calaycay added