Manila: The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended Friday down even below the 6,000-mark, a day after recovering, as the Philippine peso continues to weaken against the US dollar. The main stocks gauge declined by 1.09 percent to 5,988.02 points, and the broader All Shares by 0.81 percent to 3,608.11 points.

According to Philippines News Agency, all the sectoral counters also finished the day in the red, led by the Mining and Oil after it fell 2.02 percent. It was trailed by the Financials, 1.51 percent; Services, 1.25 percent; Holding Firms, 0.82 percent; Industrial, 0.67 percent; and Property, 0.48 percent.

Volume reached 2.89 billion shares, amounting to PHP26.28 billion. Decliners led advancers at 123 to 75 while 49 shares were unchanged.

'The Philippine market ended below the 6,000-mark as sellers took control of the session today. The sustained depreciation of the USD (US dollar) against the PHP (Philippine peso) continues to weigh on market sentiment. Moreover, market participants are likely pricing in the anticipated lower GDP (gross domestic product) forecast projected by various institutions,' Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales, said.

The peso weakened to 58.62 against the greenback from its 58.61 close a day ago. It opened the day sideways at 58.55 and traded between 58.71 and 58.55. Average for the day stood at 58.63. Volume reached USD1.39 billion, lower than the previous session's USD1.68 billion.