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PSEi tracks Asian markets, peso ends sideways

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Monday tracked major Asian markets, closing the day in the red territory, while the peso moved sideways. PSEi finished the day dropping below the 6,200-mark by 67.51 points to 6,198.83 level, with All Shares down by 24.67 points to 3,359.90. All sectors, except for Mining and Oil which gained by 31.93 points to 11,037.40, closed the day with losses. Biggest drop came from the Holding Firms’ counter at 91.12 points; followed by Industrial, down by 78.48 points; Financials, down by 21.94 points; Property, down by 12.90 points; and Services, down by 7.31 points. ‘The local bourse opened the week below 6,200 as investors continued to monitor the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict,’ Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said. The lower local shares came the same day that the central bank reported higher overseas Filipino remittances in August, and ahead of the balance of payments data. Major Asian equities also closed weaker on Monday, which include Nikkei 225 (2.03 percent), Hang Seng (-1.04 percent), Taiwan TSEC 50 Index (-0.68 percent), Shanghai SE Composite Index (-0.43 percent), and Mumbai Sensex (-0.17 percent). Losers outnumbered gainers at 116 to 64, with 35 counters left unchanged. Meanwhile, the Philippine peso ended the day sideways to 56.78 to a US dollar, from 56.81 in last week’s closing. It opened the day at 56.82 from 56.77 to a dollar kick off last Friday. The currency pair traded between 56.78 and 56.88, with the average level for the day at 56.84 to the greenback. Volume of trade further declined to USD859.5 million from USD922.12 million level in the previous trading.

Source: Philippines News Agency