Peso Firms Up, Stocks Sink Deeper into Bear Territory

While the Philippine peso was regaining strength against the greenback on Thursday, local stocks continued their decline, plunging more than 2 percent, sinking deeper into bear territory.

The local unit rose from a 12-year low to close at 53.46 from the 53.48 finish on Wednesday.

It opened the day at 53.39 and hit an intra-day low of 53.50.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Stock Exchange index closed 2.25 percent, or 163.47 points, lower at a 19-month low of 7,098.15.

The broader All Shares lost 91.01 points, or 2.04 percent, to close at 4,369.21 points.

All other sectors tracked the main index in a negative trajectory led by Property, which was down by 3.54 percent; followed by Services, 3.46 percent; Industrial, 1.98 percent; Mining and Oil, 1.83 percent; Holding Firms, 1.68 percent; and Financials, 1.09 percent.

Total volume reached 1.9 billion valued at PHP7.89 billion.

A total of 166 decliners outpaced 36 advancers, while 41 shares were unchanged. (PNA)