PSEi rebounds as peso hits record low at P64 to the dollar

MANILA – Bargain-hunting lifted the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) Tuesday but the Philippine peso weakened further to 64-level against the U.S. dollar.

After days of decline, the local bourse’s main index rose 2.13 percent to 5,761.19 points, and the broader All Shares by 1.67 percent to 3,213.96 points.

Financials rose the most, up by 3.28 percent, and was followed by the Holding Firms, 2.87 percent; Industrial and Mining and Oil, both up by 2.03 percent; Property, 0.93 percent; and Services, 0.90 percent.

Volume reached 1.12 billion shares amounting to PHP9.5 billion.

Advancers led decliners at 104 to 66 while 76 shares were unchanged.

On the other hand, the local currency further depreciated to 64.17 from 63.95 Tuesday, which Jonathan Ravelas, senior adviser at Reyes, Tacandong & Co., a professional services firm, traced to “geopolitical tensions (that) remain in the Middle East.”

The local currency opened the day at 63.95, way weaker than its 63.53 start in the previous session.

It traded between 63.9 and 64.2, bringing the average to 63.99.

Volume reached USD1.73 billion, higher than the USD1.65 billion a day ago.

Ravelas forecasts the peso to trade between “64.100 to 64.50 levels in the near-term.”