The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended the week in the red, partly on investors’ preference for safe-haven assets but the local currency improved against the US dollar.
The main equities gauge shed 1.8 percent, or 116.64 points, to 6,370.87 points.
All Shares declined by 1.13 percent, or 44.93 points, to 3,923.03 points.
The bulk of the sectoral indices tracked the PSEi, led by Property after it fell by 2.81 percent.
Trailing behind were Holding Firms, 1.79 percent; Financials, 1.14 percent; Services, 0.85 percent; and Industrial, 0.35 percent.
Only the Mining and Oil index gained during the day after rising by 2.08 percent.
Volume totaled 6.77 billion shares amounting to P8.62 billion.
“Investors sold ahead of the weekend and to close the month of April, as many focused on the US after another round of positive earnings and the release of the first-quarter gross domestic product,” Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales said.
The US economy grew by 6.4 percent in the first quarter of the year, the second-highest quarterly growth since 2003, boosted by the re-opening of the economy after weeks of movement restrictions because of the pandemic and the rise in domestic consumption.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the week’s trading better against the greenback at 48.1 from 48.315 in the previous day.
It opened the day at 48.27 and traded between 48.28 and 48.099, averaging 48.156.
Volume of trade reached USD1.19 billion, higher than the USD837.5 million on Thursday.*PNA
