Manila: The local bourse closed higher Wednesday, while the peso rebounded against the U.S. dollar. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose 1.10 percent to 6,619.87 points, and the broader All Shares index gained 0.72 percent to 3,640.38.

According to Philippines News Agency, most sectoral indices advanced, led by Services with a 4.25 percent increase, followed by Mining and Oil at 1.68 percent, Industrial at 0.72 percent, and Financials at 0.20 percent. Conversely, the Property and Holding firms declined by 0.64 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.

Trading volume reached 1.31 billion shares worth PHP9.89 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners, 116 to 91, while 59 shares remained unchanged. Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corporation, noted that the PSEi ended higher, achieving the 6,600 level as buying pressure remained intact across the board. Investor confidence stayed elevated, with ongoing earnings releases driving gains in select stocks and attracting renewed participation from investors.

He further mentioned that the strengthening peso against the U.S. dollar bolstered overall market sentiment and supported sustained optimism in equities. The peso recovered to 57.51 per dollar from 57.75 the previous day. It opened at 57.8, traded between 57.43 and 57.8, and averaged 57.59. Dollar trading volume increased to USD1.77 billion from USD1.36 billion a day earlier.