Share prices closed lower Tuesday on last-minute profit-taking as investors tracked overseas leads. The peso closed up.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index was down 20.24 points, a 0.31 percent drop to 6,502.85.
The broader All Shares index was down 6.65 point or 0.19 percent to 3,463.81.
Losers edged gainers 84 to 82 with 55 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P4.16 billion.
The peso closed at 55.32 to the dollar, up from 55.70 on Monday.
The currency opened at 55.67 and hit a high of 55.30 and a low of 55.70. Trading turnover reached $1.03 billion.
Asian currencies tracked China’s yuan to inch higher as speculations of Beijing seeking to slow the pace of yuan’s depreciation supported risk appetite and prompted investors to shift focus from rate hike worries.
The peso, the South Korean won and the Malaysian ringgit appreciated between 0.2 percent and 0.7 percent.
“Despite the negative sentiment from US equities overnight, in terms of FX (foreign exchange) markets, it is actually the yuan recovery that is driving Asian currencies today,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ.
Claire Alviar, analayst at Philstocks Financial Inc. said last-minute profit- taking pulled the market to close lower as investors booked gains ahead of the holiday.
“Negative sentiment from Wall Street overnight also weighed on market sentiment,” Alviar said.
Most actively traded International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P3 to P209. SM Investments Inc. was down P10 to P919. BDO Unibank Inc. was down P3 to P137. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was up P0.04 to P4.79. Jollibee Foods Corp. was down P3.20 to P238.69. Universal Robina Corp. was steady at P138. Ayala Land Inc. was up P0.40 to P25.10. Bank of the Philippine Islands was up P1.20 to P109.10. Bloomberry Resorts Corp. was up P0.16 to P10.96.
