By Komfie Manalo
Profit-takers ended the local stock market's two consecutive days of gains as the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended the last trading day of the week, declining 0.23% to 6,492.75 after returning to the 6,500 level the previous day.
The PSEi had yet to trade at this level since June 10. The Total Number of Shares also decreased by 0.20% to 3,508.99.
"The market mostly traded in the green as investors reacted positively to the June inflation rate, which slowed to 3.7% percent from the previous month and was near the lower end of the BSP's (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) forecast," Philstock Financials, Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.
Alviar said the last-minute profit-taking pulled down the PSEi's performance at the end of the week.
Sectoral indices were mixed with winners, including Financials (+0.22%), Property (+0.21%), and Holding Firms (+0.15%).
Losers were Services (-1.43%), Mining and Oil (-0.49%), and Industrial (-0.16%).
Those in the red territory outnumbered those in the green at 94 to 90, with 63 counters maintaining their shares.
Meanwhile, the Philippine peso closed the week sideways, slightly gaining by 0.05 to close at 58.53 to the US dollar from 58.58 on Thursday.
It opened the day at 58.54 from last day's kick-off at 58.63.
The foreign exchange rate ranged from 58.51 to 58.60, bringing the average level for the day to 58.56 to the greenback.
The trade volume dropped to $836 million from the previous day's $1.1 billion.
Comments