THE peso closed near a record low on Friday and the stock market also slipped, with sentiment said to have fallen following a lack of progress in US-Iran peace talks and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) having ended an easing cycle.
The currency, which hit an all-time low of P60.748 to the dollar last month, weakened by 22 centavos to P60.7:$1. The benchmark Philippine Stock Market index (PSEi) shed 40.02 points, or 0.67 percent, to end the trading week at 5,943.49.
The broader All Shares also fell, by 17.50 points or 0.52 percent, to 3,352.22.
The peso opened at P60.69 versus the greenback and traded in the P60.67 to P60.8 range during the session. Volume reached P1.383 billion, down from Thursday’s P1.830 billion.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the currency weakened as stalled US-Iran peace talks boosted the dollar.
Philstocks Financial Inc. research manager Japhet Tantiangco said the PSEi fell as investors digested Thursday’s 25-basis point BSP rate hike and accompanying higher inflation expectations.
Geopolitical risks also weighed on trading, he said.
Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., said the PSEi remained in risk-off territory with the peso’s fall having added pressure on equities.
Trading was tepid with net value turnover around P5.22–P5.23 billion. Foreign investors remained net sellers with outflows of P628.11 million.
Sectoral performance was broadly negative, with only industrials managing a slim gain of 0.10 percent. Banks led the decline, falling 1.63 percent.
Decliners outnumbered gainers, 110 to 80, while 64 were unchanged.
