MANILA: Philippine shares sustained its shedding on Monday, with the index falling below the 6,600 level, even as the peso depreciated by 0.28 amid the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed 1.46 percent lower, or down by 96.96 points, to 6,562.43, with All Shares declining by 1.12 percent to 3,478.11. Only Mining and Oil improved its shares by 0.33 percent at 8,311.23. Among losers, Holding Firms had the largest shedding at 1.99 percent at 6,077.81. This was followed by Financials (-1.68 percent), Industrial (-1.23 percent), Property (-0.91 percent), and Services (-0.68 percent). 'Philippine shares were sold down as investors took precautionary measures following the geopolitical tension between Iran and Israel. Over the weekend, Tehran allied militant fired hundreds of missiles, most of which were neutralized,' Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said. Decliners outnumbered losers at 136 to 63, with 44 left unchanged. Meanw hile, the Philippine peso closed 56.81 to a US dollar from 56.53 during last week's trading. It opened the day at 56.65, weaker than the previous trading's kick-off at 56.40 to a dollar. The currency pair traded between a low of 56.65 and a high of 56.85, bringing the average level for the day at 56.75 to the greenback. Trade volume for the day increased to USD1.59 billion from USD1.08 billion last Friday. Source: Philippines News Agency
