MANILA, June 26 (PNA) — The country’s stock market continued to rise and the peso performed better on Thursday on back of better outlook for the global economy.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 0.84 percent or 57.50 points and ended the day at 6,892.18 points.
A trader attributed the sustained expansion of the main index to improved outlook on the global economy despite the contraction of the United States economy by 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014.
Last week, the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) cut by another USD 10 billion the Federal Reserve’s stimulus programs to USD 35 billion on back of expectations for the better output in the second quarter given the positive economic reports during the current quarter.
The trader said this boosted investors’ confidence and pushed the PSEi higher.
Thus, aside from the main index, all the sub-indices also posted advances, led by the services with 1.19 percent or 24.02 points to 2,038.49 points.
Volume of trade surged to 3.4 billion shares amounting to P21.96 billion.
Gainers remained ahead of losers at 119 to 74 while 40 were unchanged.
In a related development, the local currency ended sideways at P43.87 from Wednesday’s P43.90 finish. It opened the day at P43.82, an appreciation from the P43.93 a day ago.
It moved to P43.81 but also slid to P43.88, bringing the day’s average to P43.83.
Volume of trade amounted to USD 616.5 million, slightly higher than the USD 591.1 million in the previous trading.
For Friday, the peso is projected to trade between P43.80 and P44.00. (PNA)