Peso stays firm, PSEi downed by profit-taking

The peso opened the day better at 51.92 from 52.015 (Shutterstock photo)

MANILA — The Philippine peso ended the week little changed against the greenback but the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) cut short its two-day rally on investors’ concerns about the Syria issue.

The local currency finished trading at 51.945 from 52.00 in the previous session, which a trader pointed to dollar weakness caused by tensions on Syria as well as the slight deceleration of US headline inflation last March by 0.1 percent. However, the trader said hopes are still up for a rise in the annual consumer price index (CPI) in the US, since in the 12 months leading up to March, CPI rose 2.4 percent.

The peso opened the day better at 51.92 from 52.015 Thursday. It traded between 51.965 and 51.91, bringing the day’s average to 51.935. Volume reached USD583.6 million, up from day-ago’s USD570.64 million.

Next week, the currency pair is seen to trade between 49.90 and 52.30.

Meanwhile, all the equity indices finished the week on the red, with the main gauge down 1.78 percent or 143.09 points to 7,899.98.

Another trader said investors booked gains from PSEi’s recent rally while others decided to stay at the sidelines pending further developments on the Syria concerns. With this wait-and-see stance prevailing, All Shares went down 1.32 percent or 64.17 points to 4,794.65.

Holding Firms registered the biggest drop among the sectors at 2.

87 percent followed by Property, 1.72 percent; Services and Industrial, 0.84 percent both; Mining and Oil, 0.68 percent; and Financials, 0.26 percent. Volume reached 3.2 billion shares amounting to Php6.

1 billion.

Losers led gainers at 134 to 76, while 43 shares were unchanged.