Manila: Bargain hunting on Tuesday lifted the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) from a four-day slide, while the local currency ended sideways against the US dollar. The main equities index gained 0.16 percent to 6,093.53 points, but All Shares slipped anew after a decline of 0.11 percent to 3,657.85 points. Most of the sectoral counters ended in the red - Mining and Oil, 2.96 percent; Holding Firms, 0.64 percent; Property, 0.25 percent; and Financials, 0.11 percent. On the other hand, Services gained 1.10 percent and Industrial, 0.38 percent.

According to Philippines News Agency, volume reached 1.31 billion shares, amounting to PHP5.24 billion. Decliners led advancers at 127 to 84, while 47 shares were unchanged. Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales, traced the main index's rise to 'bargain hunting among investors.' He mentioned that sentiment remains cautious as the Philippine peso continues to depreciate against the US dollar, while the country's balance of payments (BOP) narrowed in September.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday the USD85 million surplus in the country's overall BOP position last September, which is the summary of a country's total transactions with the rest of the world for a certain period. This surplus reduced the deficit in the country's BOP position as of end-September to USD5.4 billion. With these factors, the local currency finished the day's trade at 58.22 from Monday's close of 58.17. It opened stronger at 58.15 from 58.19 the previous day, and traded between 58.26 and 58.08. The day's average stood at 58.17. Volume rose to USD1.43 billion from the previous session's USD1.13 billion.