Bargain hunting lifted the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Monday while the peso remained firm against the US dollar.
The main stock gauge rose by 1.85 percent, or 129.56 points, to 7,140.67 points.
It was trailed by all other counters, with the All Shares up by 1.45 percent, or 54.27 points, to 3,799.88 points.
The Property index led the sectoral indices after it jumped by 2.78 percent,
It was followed by the Financials, 2.76 percent; Industrial, 1.69 percent; Mining and Oil, 1.51 percent; Holding Firms, 1.44 percent; and Services, 0.83 percent.
Volume totaled 745.53 million shares amounting to PHP5.25 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 116 to 64, while 53 shares were unchanged.
Meanwhile, the local currency kept its footing against the greenback after finishing the week’s first trading day at 51.31 from 51.35 close last Friday.
It opened the trade at 51.38 and ranged between 51.45 and 51.27.
Average level for the day stood at 51.347.
Volume totaled to USD919.22 million, lower than the USD1.02 billion in the previous session.
In a reply to e-mailed questions from PNA, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort attributed the peso’s performance against the US dollar during the day to “healthy correction”.
He traced this partly to reports quoting Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles discounting the possibility that movement restrictions in the National Capital Region (NCR) will be increased to Alert Level 4 from the current Alert Level 3 due to surging daily coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections.
The NCR has been placed under Alert Level 3 from January 3 until January 15.
The Department of Health reported 33,169 additional new Covid-19 infections on Monday, up from the previous day’s 28,707 cases.
Source: Philippines News Agency
