MANILA – The Philippine peso remained firm against the greenback Monday while the main equities gauge slipped anew on US-China trade concerns.
The local currency closed the week’s first trading day at 51.83 from 51.875 Friday last week.
BPI Research traced the local unit’s strength to strong demand as the third quarter ends.
For the day, the unit opened at 51.88, way better than its 52.15 start in the previous session.
It traded between 51.88 and 51.73, resulting in an average of 51.795.
Volume reached 991.27 million US dollars (USD), a drop from the USD1.21 billion at the end of last week.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 51.75 and 52.00 on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 0.51 percent, or 40.15 points, to 7,779.07 points, which BPI Research pointed to trade-related uncertainties before next week’s US-China dialogue.
The negative close of the main gauge was mirrored by the All Shares, which fell 0.34 percent, or 15.94 points, to 4,712.87 points.
Most of the sectoral counters, however, gained during the day.
Property ended with the highest jump at 0.80 percent, trailed by the Mining and Oil, 0.47 percent; Industrial, 0.08 percent; and Financials, 0.07 percent.
Holding Firms fell 1.66 percent, and Services, 1.14 percent.
Volume reached 1.99 billion shares amounting to P12.93 billion.
Losers led gainers at 125 to 71, while 52 shares were unchanged. (PNA)
