The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) finished the week in the negative territory due to correction, but the peso remained firm against the US dollar as it even touched the 49-level.
A day after posting gains, the main stocks index shed 0.91 percent, or 66.19 points, to 7,181.86 points.
All Shares trailed with a 0.42 percent, or 16.19 points, decline to 3,822.26 points.
Most of the sectoral gauges also slipped, led by the Holding Firms at 1.20 percent.
Property followed with a drop of 1.03 percent along with the Services, 0.65 percent; Financials, 0.63 percent; and Industrial, 0.22 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil gained during the day after it rose by 0.70 percent.
Volume totaled 3.28 billion shares amounting to PHP2.11 billion.
Advancers led decliners at 84 to 81, while 39 shares were unchanged.
In a report, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort attributed the negative close of the main stocks gauge during the day partly to the end-November 2021 fiscal report of the government, which showed a 24.63 percent year-on-year rise of the government’s budget gap of PHP1.33 trillion.
Ricafort said the budget deficit may increase further due to damage caused by Typhoon Odette, which recently ravaged parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.
These developments, he said “could slow down GDP (gross domestic product) growth and could lead to some temporary increase in overall inflation.”
“The latest profit-taking in the local stock market (is) also partly brought about by new record-high new Covid (coronavirus disease 2019) cases in some European countries, partly due to the Omicron variant, which could slow down economic recovery prospects amid travel and other restrictions as a matter of prudence to prevent Omicron from spreading further,” he added.
Meanwhile, the peso closed the day’s trade at 50.04, little changed from its 50.045 finish on Thursday.
It opened the day at 50.05, sideways from its 50.14 start a day ago.
It traded between 50.09 and 49.95, resulting in an average of 50.02.
Volume increased to USD933.05 million compared to USD848.27 million a day ago.
Source: Philippines News Agency
