Stock index back at 7,500; peso at P53.37:$1

July 25, 2018

Stocks lost big early gains but still managed to end higher on Wednesday.

The peso opened at P53.32 against the US dollar but closed at P53.37. It was higher than Tuesday's P53.42. Volume reached $557.1 million from the previous day's $668.1 million.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, up by as much as 167 points three hours before trading ended, finished at 7,514, up 66.98 points.

In the broader market, there were 125 gainers, 72 decliners and 46 shares unchanged.

Volume rose to 1.4 billion shares worth P6.9 billion from Tuesday's 2.65 billion shares valued at P4.4 billion. Foreigners were net buyers, with P3.02 billion worth of stocks bought while P2.77 billion shares were sold.

Most active shares were led by Ayala Land, up 3.58 percent to P40.50; SM Investment Corp., up 2.3 percent to P933 and BDO, up 4.65 percent to P135. DMS