Stocks, peso rise as US, China execs hold trade talks

MANILA — Philippine stocks and the peso ended the week on positive note even as investors were all eyes on the resumption of the US-China trade discussions this week.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) improved for the second day in a row after it posted a 0.56 percent, or 44.53 points, uptick to 7,920.93 points.

All Shares gained 0.43 percent, or 20.73 points, to 4,864.17 points.

Most of the sectors tracked the main index with Services posting the biggest jump at 1.36 percent. It was followed by the Property, 1.18 percent; Industrial, 0.53 percent; Financials, 0.45 percent; and Mining and Oil, 0.19 percent.

Holding Firms, meanwhile, fell 0.13 percent.

Volume reached 1.70 billion shares amounting to PHP6.7 billion.

Losers surpassed gainers at 112 to 97, while 35 shares were unchanged.

Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Managing Director, said PSEi ended the quarter up more than six percent “as part of window dressing and while investors watched developments between US and China.”

Citing reports, Limlingan said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are currently in Beijing, China for the trade meeting, while China Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled to fly to the US next month.

He also attributed the positive close of the PSEi to recovery of US markets.

“This overshadow the weakness from a weaker US macro data and another huge depreciation in the Turkish Lira,” he said.

The Lira is now on a see-saw as a result of the faltering Turkish economy due to political and economic issues being faced by the Western Asian country.

Similarly, the peso finished the week better at 52.5 from 52.75 Thursday.

A trader pointed this to the performance of stock markets not just in the Philippines but in several other countries.

The trader said hopes are high for the eventual deal from the meetings between US and China officials which, in turn, will also benefit other countries.

For the day, the peso opened at 52.7, almost unchanged from the 52.71 a day ago.

It traded between 52.74 and 52.46, resulting in an average of 52.629.

Volume reached USD901.77 million, lower than the USD929.72 million a day ago.

The peso is seen to trade between 52.40 and 52.70 to a greenback next week.