PH stocks down; peso gains

Philippine stocks sank on Tuesday, bucking an otherwise positive performance across the region.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index ended the session down 0.39 percent, or 32.8 points, to 8,289.19 while the broader all-shares index was also down 0.41 percent to 4,851.68.

Subindices were mostly in the red, save for financials, which gained 0.11 percent.

Top losers were property, down 1 percent, followed by industrial firms, lower by 0.72 percent and holding firms, which declined 0.38 percent.

A total of 1.9 billion shares changed hands yesterday, valued at P7.2 billion, data from the PSE showed.

There were 124 decliners against 78 gainers while 48 companies closed unchanged.

SM Investments Corp. was the most actively traded on Tuesday as it slid by 0.71 percent to P973 per share.

This was followed by SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 0.7 percent to P35.40; Manila Electric Co., up 0.31 percent to P323; PXP Energy Corp., up 11.43 percent to P10.92; and Ayala Land Inc., down 1.75 percent to P42.05 per share.

Meanwhile, the peso on Tuesday gained five centavos to close at 50.74:$1 from 50.79:$1 last Monday.

At the Philippine Dealing System, the peso reached an intraday high of 50.72:$1 and a low of 50.88:$1 after opening at 50.8:$1.

The total volume traded rose to $584.9 million from Monday’s $577.1 million.