Business and Economy
Peso up vs. USD; PSEi tracks Wall Street slip
Investors’ wait-and-see stance on rate decision during the last policy meeting of Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve chair stopped the Philippine peso’s slide Wednesday but the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) finished on the red anew after tracking Wall Street. (ShutterStock)
MANILA — Investors’ wait-and-see stance on rate decision during the last policy meeting of Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve chair stopped the Philippine peso’s slide Wednesday but the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) finished on the red anew after tracking Wall Street.
The local currency finished the day’s trade at 51.295, a big improvement from its 51.42 close in the previous day.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is holding its first rate setting meet for 2018 from January 30-31 and the trader said investors stayed at the sidelines ahead of the announcement of the decision.
However, corporates’ end-of-the month dollar demand remained, thus, it played as a negative factor for the peso.
The local unit opened at 51.43, a drop from the 51.30 in the previous session.
It traded between 51.45 and 51.25, resulting in an average of 51.34.
Volume for the day reached USD943.05, higher than the USD926.45 a day ago.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.20 and 51.40 Thursday.
On the other hand, the main equities index shed 1.64 percent, or 146.47 points, to 8,764.01 points.
A trader said slip of the Wall Street overnight made investors worried and this was reflected in the local stocks market during the day.
The broader All Shares gave up 1.34 percent, or 69.81 points, to 5,124.83 points.
Most of the sectors tracked the PSEi with Holding Firms leading the list after losing 2.52 percent.
It was followed by the Property, 2.21 percent; Financials, 0.89 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.61 percent; and Industrial, 0.49 percent.
Only the Services registered gains after it rose 0.24 percent.
Volume surged to 2.99 billion shares amounting to PHP11.53 billion.
Gainers led losers at 142 to 61 while 52 shares were unchanged.
