By Joann Santiago
MANILA, Sept. 8 (PNA) — The Philippine peso ended Tuesday sideways against the dollar while the local bourse finished the day on the red similar to its peers in the region, which were dragged by still weak Chinese exports numbers.
The local currency ended the day at 46.93, almost unchanged from the 46.92 a day ago, which a trader said was still due to concerns on the timing of the hike in the Federal Reserve rates.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will have its meeting next week and the trader said some analysts are open to the possibility of a rate hike decision given the strings of positive economic reports from the US since the previous meeting of the Committee last July 28-29.
For the day, the local unit opened at 47.00 from 46.95 Monday.
It was pulled down further to 47.04 mid-trade but was also able to strengthen to 46.92.
This brought the day’s average to 46.98.
For Wednesday, the currency pair is seen to trade between 46.90 and 47.10.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 0.51 percent or 35.52 points to end the day at 6,891.30 points.
Philstocks Financial, Inc., in a market report, said the local bourse edged higher upon the opening of the trade “as investors tried to shake off the cobwebs of a two-session slump.”
However, developments turned on the negative before noon due to still weak Chinese exports numbers and this continued throughout the day.
The biggest loser during the day is the mining and oil with 1.11 percent or 123.84 points drop to 11,048.83 points.
The other index that posted above one percent point losses is the financials.
Volume of trade reached 645.62 million amounting to PHP 4.73 billion.
Losers led gainers at 100 to 63 while 44 were unchanged.
The local bourse is seen to remain on its current situation ahead of the FOMC meeting and developments in China among others. (PNA)