Manila: Bargain hunting pushed the local stock market's main index back above the 6,000 level on Thursday, while the Philippine peso recovered against the US dollar.
According to Philippines News Agency, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 1.33 percent to 6,071.06 points, while the broader All Shares index gained 0.47 percent to 3,331.09 points. Sectoral indices ended mixed, although most tracked the main index's upward movement. Services posted the biggest gain, climbing 3.71 percent, followed by Holding Firms at 0.88 percent, Property at 0.57 percent, and Industrial at 0.33 percent. Meanwhile, Mining and Oil declined by 4.82 percent, while Financials slipped by 1.48 percent.
Trading volume reached 889.22 million shares valued at PHP8.3 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers, 103 to 79, while 61 issues were unchanged. "The local market bounced back from yesterday's losses as investors hunted for bargains primarily on the index's heavyweight ICT (information and communications technology). The decline in global oil prices helped in today's session," Philstocks Financial, Inc. said in a report.
The peso, meanwhile, snapped its recent losing streak and closed at 61.29 against the US dollar, improving from 61.55 in the previous session. The local currency opened weaker at 61.53 from the previous day's 61.40. It traded between 61.60 and 61.29, with an average rate of 61.38. Dollar trading volume declined to USD1.63 billion from USD1.76 billion a day earlier.
