Peso stays firm vs USD; PSEi down on profit-taking

The local currency ended the day at 50.39 from 50.48 a day ago, which a trader pointed to remittance inflows. (Photo by Debbie Tingzon/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA— Seasonal inflows from overseas Filipinos in time for the Christmas holiday boosted the Philippine peso Tuesday but the main stocks index fell on profit-taking.

The local currency ended the day at 50.39 from 50.48 a day ago, which a trader pointed to remittance inflows.

It opened the day flat at 50.43, which the trader said was due to combination of factors like lesser corporate demand and the negative performance in the equities market.

It traded between 50.38 and 50.53, resulting an average of 50.46.

Volume for the day reached USD604.7 million, higher than the USD467.15 million a day ago.

The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.30 and 50.50 Wednesday.

On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 0.68 percent, or 56.86 points, to 8,365.96 points after recovery Monday.

The trader said dealers booked profit after the main index’ improvement a day ago.

Most of the other indices tracked the main gauge, with the broader All Shares down by 0.

16 percent, or 7.65 points, to 4,902.14 points.

Services registered the biggest drop at 1.83 percent followed by the Mining and Oil, 1.35 percent; Financials, 1.17 percent; Industrial, 1.03 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.30 percent.

Property was the sole gainer for the day after it rose 0.19 percent.

Volume for the day reached 1.56 billion shares amounting to PHP6.87 billion.

Losers led gainers at 116 to 89 while 47 shares were unchanged.