PH stocks gauge slips, peso rises anew vs. US dollar

MANILA – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) sustained its slide on Friday partly on the increases in jobs in the US last April but the peso strengthened further against the US dollar.

The main equities index further fell by 0.38 percent, or 24.07 points, to 6,258.71 points.

All Shares lost 0.06 percent, or 2.22 points, to 3,877.43 points.

Half of the sectoral indexes gained during the day namely the Mining and Oil, 1.45 percent; Services, 1.33 percent; and Industrial, 0.21 percent.

On the other hand, Property declined by 0.98 percent; Holding Firms, 0.68 percent; and Financials, 0.53 percent.

Volume totaled 2.10 billion shares amounting to PHP4.66 billion.

Losers led gainers at 106 to 104 while 35 shares were unchanged.

“Philippines shares closed lower as investors focused their attention on the highly anticipated jobs data, while fund managers continued to assess the new set of earnings that came out,” Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, said.

A report by private sector payroll company ADP showed that 742,000 new jobs were created in the US last April, higher than the 517,000 in March but lower than the expectations of 830,000.

On the other hand, the peso improved further against the greenback after ending the day at 47.855 from 47.98 a day ago.

Its close during the day is better than the currency’s 47.93 finish last February 15.

It opened the trade at 47.92 and traded between 47.945 and 47.855. Average level for the day stood at 47.9.

Volume totaled USD985.37 million, higher than the USD978.05 million a day ago.