Stocks down anew, peso steady vs. US dollar

MANILA, November 12 ------ Selling pressure resulted in another negative close for the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) but the peso again finished sideways against the greenback, despite touching the 59-level mid-trade. The main stocks gauge lost 1.29 percent to 5,629.07 points, and the All Shares by 0.94 percent to 3,465.61 points.

Most of the sectoral indices also finished on the red, namely the Financials, 3 percent; Property, 2.06 percent; Holding Firms, 1.30 percent; Industrial, 1.29 percent; and Mining and Oil, 1.13 percent. Only the Services index gained during the day after rising 1.23 percent. Volume reached 2.03 billion shares, amounting to PHP8.56 billion.

Decliners led advancers at 123 to 59 while 63 shares were unchanged. Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, said heavy selling marked the day’s trading. “Investor confidence remains weak amid the release of key macroeconomic data and corporate earnings, which further dampened sentiment and prompted continued profit-taking and risk-off moves in the market,” he said.

On the other hand, the local currency managed to keep its footing against the US dollar and closed the day’s trade at 58.98 from Monday's 58.96. It opened the day sideways at 58.96 and traded between 58.86 and 59.00. The average for the day stood at 58.93. Volume increased to USD1.47 billion from the day-ago’s USD1.38 billion.

Source: pna.gov.ph