MANILA – The peso moved sideways while the local bourse mirrored most Southeast Asian markets which declined over the new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) variant.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 79.47 points, or 1.08 percent, to 7,289.80.
All shares also shed by 33.12 points, or 0.85 percent, closing the day at 3,880.15.
“The local bourse joined its regional peers in the red territory this Friday as Covid-19 worries resurface. This comes amid growing concerns over a new variant, B.1.1.529, in South Africa which is seen to have a high number of mutations,” PhilStocks financial senior supervisor for research Japhet Tantiangco said.
Markets of neighboring Southeast Asian countries, such as Singapore and Thailand, posted losses bigger than the Philippine bourse.
Only the stock markets of Shanghai, Malaysia, and Shenzhen recorded losses below 1 percent.
At home, shares of all sectors decreased on this day’s trading, with the biggest loss recorded in the Property index of 58.57 points to 3,329.11.
This was followed by Mining and Oil, which declined by 44.95 points to 9,542.37; Industrial, down by 44.79 points to 10,660.11; Holding Firms, down by 37.84 points to 7,047.29; Financials, down by 24.88 to 1,583.92; and Services, down by 21.91 points to 1,987.87.
Total trades for the day reached 1.04 billion shares amounting to PHP9.97 billion.
Losers outnumbered gainers at 135 to 66, while 43 were left unchanged.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day sideways at 50.43 to a dollar from 50.39 a day ago.
It opened the day at 50.40 from last day’s kick-off at 50.35 to a dollar.
The currency pair traded between 50.32 and 50.57, bringing the day’s weighted average at 50.49.
The volume of trade declined to USD1.15 billion from Thursday’s USD1.21 billion. (PNA)
Source: Philippines News Agency
