Manila: Concerns about anomalous flood control projects continue to affect investors, resulting in the negative close of the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi), but the Philippine peso ended flat against the US dollar Friday. The local bourse's main index shed 0.25 percent to 6,027.12 points, and the All Shares by 0.24 percent to 3,644.80 points.
According to Philippines News Agency, half of the sectoral gauges tracked the PSEi, namely Property, which declined by 1.55 percent; Services, 0.88 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.12 percent. Conversely, Mining and Oil rose by 0.71 percent; Financials, 0.66 percent, and Industrial, 0.22 percent. Volume reached 1.66 billion shares, amounting to PHP5.5 billion, with decliners leading advances at 110 to 82, while 60 shares remained unchanged.
'The local market declined for a fifth straight day as dismay over the Philippine flood control projects' corruption issues continued to dampen sentiment,' Philstocks Financial Inc. said in a market report. 'The negative cues from Wall Street and the depreciation of the (Philippine) peso below the 58.00 level against the US dollar also contributed to the drop.'
The local currency also ended the week unchanged at 58.1 against the greenback. It opened the trade weaker at 58.28 from its 57.75 start in the previous session. It traded between 58.43 and 58.09, bringing the day's average to 58.25. Volume went down to USD1.38 billion from day-ago's USD2.1 billion.
