Stocks end lower, peso down to P53,53:$1

July 19, 2018

Philippine stocks closed lower on Thursday as the main share index failed to sustain its climb to the 7,400 mark.

The peso weakened to P53.53 against the US dollar, close to 12-year lows, from the previous day's P53.49. Volume reached $334.7 million from Wednesday's $423,55 million.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index finished at 7,387.87 points, down 63.50 points, ending a two-day win streak. In the broader market, there were 117 decliners, 72 gainers and 46 shares unchanged.

Volume went down to 672.7 million worth P3.7 billion from Wednesday's 1.24 billion valued at P4.25 billion. Foreigners were net sellers, unloading P2.3 billion worth of stocks compared to buying P1.72 billion worth.

Most traded shares were led by Ayala Corp., down 2.96 percent to P950; Megaworld up 1.18 percent to P17.20 and Metrobank, down 0.36 percent to P69.50. DMS