Stock index slightly up, peso declines to P53.47:$1

August 15, 2018

Philippine stocks closed with slight gains on Wednesday but the peso closed lower against the US dollar once more.

The peso hit a low of P53.535 against the US dollar before ending at P53.47, eight centavos down from Tuesday. Volume at the foreign exchange market reached $585.9 million from $693 million.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index ended at 7,540.92, up 13.14 points after two days of steep declines. In the broader market, there were 113 gainers, 91 decliners and 60 shares unchanged.

Volume went up to 1.97 billion shares worth P5.12 billion from Tuesday's 1.34 billion shares valued at P5,31 billion. Foreigners were net sellers,  with P2.84 billion sold while P2.2 billion were bought.

Among most traded shares were  Globe Telecom, up 3.23 percent to P1920; SM Prime, 1.79 percent down to P35.70, San Miguel Food and Beverages, up 3.86 percent to P82.05 and Metro Retail Stores Group Inc., up 5.07 percent to P2.90. DMS