MANILA – Last-minute bargain hunters have saved shares from losses as the local bourse ended in the green while the peso continued to strengthen against the greenback on Friday.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed this week’s trading with an increase of 46.30 points to 6,624.79, with all shares up by 18.75 points to 3,515.81.

“Although the market was mostly in the red and moved sideways throughout the session, the presence of bargain hunters enabled it to close in the green,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.

Alviar said local shares benefited from the positive economic data from the United States overnight.

Moreover, all counters finished the day in the green, except for Mining and Oil, which shed by 17.97 points to 10,018.79.

Industrial led gainers with 83.38 points growth to end at 9,369.55.

This was followed by Holding Firms, up by 47.15 points to 6,470.77; Property, up by 16.62 points to 2,641.32; Financials, up by 12.49 points to 1,939.83; and Services, up by 4.41 to 1,581.56.

“Among index members, Ayala Land, Inc. was at the top, gaining 3.01 percent while Wilcon Depot, Inc. was at the bottom, dropping 3.81 percent,” Alviar said.

She said net market value turnover stood at PHP5.34 billion on Friday, with net inflow of PHP468.24 million from foreign buyers helping lift the local bourse.

Meanwhile, the peso continues to perform better against the US dollar on the last day of trading this week.

The local currency gained 0.11 to close at 54.40 on Friday from the previous day’s finish at 54.51 to a dollar.

The peso opened the day stronger than Thursday to 54.45 from 54.60.

The currency pair traded between a low of 54.31 and a high of 54.55, bringing the average level at 54.38 to the greenback.

Volume of trade eased to USD1.15 billion from last day’s USD1.41 billion.

“Since the start of 2023, the US dollar-peso exchange rate has already declined by 1.355 or 2.4 percent versus 55.755 in end-2022,” Rizal Commercial Bank Corp. economist Michael Ricafort said.

This means the local currency appreciated compared to its level during the last day of trading in 2022. (PNA)