By Joanne Villanueva
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) and the peso ended the week up despite weakness earlier in the day due to concerns on the novel coronavirus (nCoV) scare that originated from China.
PSEi rose 0.09 percent, or 7.06 points, to 7,623.41 points, which BPI Research noted was down most of the day because of concerns on nCoV.
Reports said the virus has claimed the lives of 26 people and infected at least 830 in China alone.
China has implemented a lockdown on 10 cities as a result of the outbreak, which originated from Wuhan City.
With the improvement of the main gauge, All Shares increased by 0.43 percent, or 19.37 points, to 4,523.57 points.
Most of the sectors followed suit, led by Mining and Oil, which posted an uptick of 1.13 percent.
Property, Industrial, and Services trailed after rising by 0.66 percent, 0.62 percent, and 0.60 percent, respectively.
Volume reached 847.15 million shares amounting to PHP5.7 billion.
Gainers led losers at 106 to 70 while 60 shares were unchanged.
Relatively, the peso improved against the US dollar after it ended the week at 50.815 from 50.98 Thursday.
“The Peso strengthened given the substantial decline in global oil prices which was driven by anxiety over the coronavirus from China,” BPI Research said.
It opened the trade at 51.00, little changed from its 50.96 close in the previous session.
It traded between 51.01 and 50.81, bringing the day’s average to 50.89.
Volume totaled to USD1.08 billion, an improvement from the USD981.95 million Thursday.
The currency pair is seen to trade between 50.70-41.20 on Monday.
(First published in PNA)
