Stocks slump, peso gains to P51.67:$1

May 3, 2018

Stocks slumped on Thursday, with the main share index losing 2.6 percent.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index closed at 7,535.10. In the broader market, there were 138 decliners, 50 gainers and 52 issues unchanged.

Volume reached 1.14 billion shares worth P7.2 billion from Wednesday's 1.29 billion shares worth P6.53 billion. Foreigners were net sellers with P5.08 billion shares sold while P4.117 billion were bought.

Most traded shares included Puregold, down 2.13 percent to P46; Metrobank, down 2.91 percent to P83.50 and SM Investments Corp., down 5.01 percent to P900.

The peso closed at P51.67 against the US dollar from P51.86 on Wednesday. Volume at the Bankers Association of the Philippines reached $723.1 milion from $556.2 million on the previous day. DMS