Stocks, peso advance on Tuesday

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) managed a slight gain Tuesday, and the peso improved against the US dollar partly on investors' wait-and-see stance for the result of the ongoing Philippines-US trade and security cooperation meeting, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

The main equities index rose by 0.05 percent to 6,355.69 points, and All Shares by 0.10 percent to 3,757.20 points.

Mining and Oil led the sectors with gains after rising 0.90 percent. Trailing behind were Property, 0.69 percent; Financials, 0.64 percent; and Industrial, 0.11 percent.

On the other hand, Holding Firms and Services slipped by 0.61 percent and 0.13 percent, respectively.

Volume of trade reached 1.07 billion, amounting to nearly PHP5 billion.

Advancers and decliners were almost the same at 97 to 96, while 45 shares were unchanged.

Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales, said the main index managed to eke out “modest gains as sentiment showed slight improvement despite lower-than-usual market volume.”

“Technical setups hint at renewed confidence while still cautious after last week’s dip, most likely awaiting the development of the trade discussions in Washington this week and upcoming corporate earnings,” he said, referring to Philippine officials’ three-day visit to the US to discuss trade and security cooperation.

The optimism was also noted in the currency market after the Philippine peso touched the 56-level mid-trade and closed the day at 57.05 from 57.17 the previous day.

It opened the day sideways at 57.03 and traded between 57.07 and 56.965, averaging at 57.01.

Volume declined to USD1.29 billion from USD1.36 billion in the previous session.