Peso stays firm, PSEi slides on trade war, storm aftermath worries

The peso opened the day at 54.05, better than its 54.15 a day ago. (Shutterstock photo)

MANILA — The Philippine peso showed resilience, closing little changed against the greenback on Wednesday while the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell anew, partly on investors’ persistent worries about the inflationary impact of Typhoon Ompong.

The peso finished the day at 53.99 from 54.07 a day ago, which a trader said, is in line with the performance of other currencies in Asia.

This, as investors stayed on the sidelines as they monitor developments on the trade war between the two biggest economies of the world.

China has announced a USD60 billion worth of tariff on US imports following the USD 200 billion duties slapped by the US on Chinese goods. Both levies will take effect on September 24.

The peso opened the day at 54.05, better than its 54.15 a day ago.

It traded between 54.11 and 53.97, resulting in an average of 54.06.

Volume reached USD657.7 million, lower than the USD766.45 a day ago.

The currency pair is seen to trade between 53.90 and 54.10 Thursday.

On the other hand, the PSEi shed 0.89 percent, or 65.11 points, to 7,221.23 points.

All the other counters followed with the broader All Shares down by 0.76 percent, or 34.00 points, to 4,454.71 points.

The sectors were led by Mining and Oil, which fell 2.66 points, and was followed by Financials, 1.61 percent; Services, 1.06 percent; Holding Firms, 0.75 percent; Industrial, 0.48 percent; and Property, 0.19 percent.

Volume was thin at 848.73 million shares amounting to USD5.49 billion.

Losers led gainers at 153 to 36 while 41 shares were unchanged.