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The peso slightly improved, ending 47-to-the-dollar
on Thursday on receding uncertainty after the US Senate endorsed a
revised bailout package for troubled American financial
institutions.
At the Philippine Dealing System,
trading volume reached $808 million.
“I think the bailout plan
signed by the Senate sent a positive signal to the market and has
reduced risk aversion,” Marcelo Ayes, Rizal Commercial Banking
Corp. senior vice president, said.
Ayes said the peso is expected to
range between 46.70 and 47.20 versus the greenback today.
“The peso has moved sideways
but the market uncertainty remains,” Jonathan Ravels, a trader
with Banco De Oro Unibank, however, said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
said net foreign portfolio investments registered an outflow of
$446.29 million as of September 19, or the period when US investment
bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Hot money inflows in
August reached $187.52 million, better than the $20 million in July,
and $145.41 million outflow in June.
At the Philippine Stock Exchange,
share prices closed 1.68-percent higher on Thursday as the market
caught up with Wall Street’s previous gains, dealers said.
The composite index rose 43.24
points to 2,612.89 points, while the all-shares index gained 1.29
percent to 1,643.19 points.
There were 55 gainers against 27
losers and 49 unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 1.207
billion shares worth P3.148 billion.
“If you put it in perspective,
we are playing catch up with the US from when it went up on
Tuesday,” said Ron Rodrigo of Daiwa Securities.
The Philippine market was closed
on Wednesday for a public holiday.
Rodrigo said that despite the
turmoil in the United States, “the fundamentals of our country
remain strong . . . [and] the valuation of many of the companies
looks very attractive.
“In the last trading days,
foreign investors have taken notice of this and there has been net
foreign buying,” he said.
The United States is the
Philippines’ main trading partner and a slowdown there would hurt
the country’s exports. But Rodrigo noted that the government has
been diversifying its exports to other countries.
Philippine Long Distance
Telephone Co. rose 1.3 percent to P2,720.
Bank of the Philippine Islands
rose 5.55 percent to P47.50 while Energy Development Corp. rose 1.25
percent to P4.05.
San Miguel Corp. saw its A shares
rise 0.85 percent to P59 while its B shares rose 3.44 percent to
P60.
--Maricel E. Burgonio and AFP
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