Manila: Bargain hunting lifted the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Monday following the heavy sell-off at the end of last week, while the Philippine peso weakened against the U.S. dollar. The local bourse's benchmark index rose 0.53 percent to 5,799.32 points, while the broader All Shares index gained 0.14 percent to 3,285.56 points.

According to Philippines News Agency, three of the six sectoral indices ended higher, led by Services, which rose 2.47 percent, followed by Financials with a 0.06 percent increase, and Industrial which saw a slight uptick of 0.009 percent. On the other hand, Mining and Oil posted the biggest decline at 0.97 percent, followed by Holding Firms at 0.80 percent and Property at 0.20 percent.

Trading volume remained thin at 564.26 million shares valued at PHP8.5 billion. The market saw more advancers than decliners, with 102 stocks gaining, 93 declining, and 61 remaining unchanged. Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corporation, attributed the market's gains to investors' "bargain-hunting mode." He noted that gains were limited in the afternoon session as participants remained cautious, with many maintaining short exposures ahead of the upcoming inflation data.

The Philippine Statistics Authority is scheduled to release the May 2026 inflation report on June 5. Meanwhile, the local currency depreciated to 61.74 against the U.S. dollar from 61.59 at the close of trading last Friday. The peso opened Monday's session at 61.65, weaker than its previous opening level of 61.42, and traded within a range of 61.65 to 61.75, bringing the day's average exchange rate to 61.72. Volume in the foreign exchange market declined to USD998.9 million from USD1.71 billion in the previous session.