Stocks decline, but peso rallies after hitting low

August 24, 2018

Philippine stocks ended the week lower on Friday and ahead of a holiday on Monday.

The peso closed at P53.465 against the US dollar after hitting a low of P53.52. It closed at P53.48 on Thursday. Volume reached $421.05 million from $576.45 million on the previous day.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index ended at 7,766.47 points, down 37.56. In the broader market, there were 122 decliners, 76 gainers and 54 unchanged.

Volume reached 2.27 billion shares worth P7.21 billion from Thursday's 810.4 million valued at P7.97 billion. Foreigners were net sellers with P3.48 billion while buying was at P3.08 billion.

Most active shares were led by San Miguel Corp., up 7.38 percent to P171.80; Ayala Land, down 0.90 percent to P43.90 and SM Food and Beverage up 4.23 percent to P96.

San Miguel Food and Beverage plans to raise P142.8 billion from selling 1.02 billion shares. DMS