Manila: The lack of catalysts and continued weakness of the Philippine peso against the US dollar resulted in a drop in the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) on Wednesday, a day after recovering. The main equities gauge shed 1.03 percent to 6,030.87 points, and All Shares by 0.83 percent to 3,627.38 points.

According to Philippines News Agency, only the Holding Firms index gained during the day after rising 0.06 percent, while Mining and Oil posted the biggest drop at 5.91 percent, followed by Financials, 1.62 percent; Services, 1.42 percent; Property, 1.14 percent; and Industrial, 0.95 percent. Volume reached 12.06 billion shares, amounting to PHP10.81 billion. Decliners led advancers at 150 to 57, while 48 shares were unchanged.

‘The market went down as it struggled to find new catalysts, coupled with the depreciation of the PHP against the USD. Moreover, the dip in gold spot prices also contributed to the negative sentiment in the market,’ said Luis Limlingan, head of sales of Regina Capital Development Corp.

The local currency depreciated to 58.41 against the greenback from its 58.22 close on Tuesday. Its weakness showed early on after opening the trade at 58.3 from the previous session’s 58.15. It traded between 58.43 and 58.28, bringing the day’s average to 58.34. Volume of trade also declined to USD1.29 billion from the previous day’s USD1.43 billion.