PSEi slips ahead of US economic report; peso firms up

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended Tuesday in the negative territory ahead of the release of some major economic reports in the US but the peso gained against the US dollar.

After several days of rally, the main equities gauge declined by 0.77 percent, or 54.98 points, to 7,085.69 points.

All the other counters also finished the day down, with the All Shares lower by 0.64 percent, or 24.42 points, to 3,775.46 points.

The Mining and Oil index registered the biggest decrease with 1.37 percent and was followed by the Property, 1.29 percent; Industrial, 0.89 percent; Holding Firms, 0.54 percent; Services, 0.44 percent; and Financials, 0.37 percent.

Volume was thin at 877.97 million shares amounting to PHP6.9 billion.

Decliners led advancers at 105 to 82, while 43 shares were unchanged.

“Philippine shares closed weaker ahead of key US inflation data releases and central bank news that could provide information about the future of monetary policy,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation (RCDC) head of sales.

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to testify for his nomination hearing before a panel at the US Senate late Tuesday (Manila time).

On the local front, the movement restriction in the National Capital Region (NCR), among others, remained at Alert Level 3 until January 15 amid the surge in daily coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases to over 33,000 on Monday.

The country logged 33,169 daily infections on Monday, but the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said the cases are lower at 28,007.

Meanwhile, the local currency finished the day at 51.14 to a US dollar, better than its 51.31 close a day ago.

It opened the trade at 51.25 and ranged between 51.275 and 51.07.

Average level for the day stood at 51.174.

Volume totaled to USD1.22 billion, higher than the previous session’s USD919.22 million.

Source: Philippines News Agency

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