MANILA: The local stock barometer breached the 6,900 level on Tuesday, backed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' recent rate cut and the country's credit rating upgrade, while the peso also closed stronger against the dollar. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 54.89 points to close at 6,944.76 while the broader All Shares rose 22.64 points to 3,729.09. "Philippine shares broke into the 6,900 level and now is just a stone's throw away from the 7,000 level with investor(s) continuing to buy into the strong earnings, recent 25bp (basis points) cut and upgrade of (Japan's Rating and Investment Information Inc.) investment grade for the country," Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said. "US (United States) equities also went for another winning day as the market continued to recover from the previous sell-offs. Now, many are waiting for words from Fed Chair Powell this Friday. In the commodities space, gold prices eased a bit for a retracement as traders locked in their gains.' Half of the sectors closed in the positive territory, led by Financials, which went up by 2.54 percent, while Industrial, Mining and Oil, and Property ended the day in the negative territory. Despite the gains, decliners led advancers at 120 to 89, leaving 51 unchanged. The peso, meanwhile, closed at 56.55 to the dollar, slightly up from its 56.64 finish on Monday. It opened at 56.60 and traded between 56.51 and 56.64. The day's weighted average was 56.581. Volume of trade declined to USD1.5 billion from USD1.6 billion the previous day. Source: Philippines News agency