THE peso strengthened for a second straight day, and the stock market also extended its run of gains to four days at the end of the trading week.

The currency closed at P58.52 against the dollar from P58.611 a day earlier, while the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 8.90 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 6,518.76.

The broader All Shares index also rose by 0.06 percent, or 2.14 points, to 3,491.93.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said that the peso strengthened after the dollar remained weak against major global currencies.

Trading opened at P58.555:$1 and ranged from P58.49 to P58.59. Volume reached P1.235 billion, down from Thursday's P1.378 billion.

Philstocks Financials Inc. research associate Claire Alviar, meanwhile, said the PSEi rose due to "heightened expectations of a possible rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in the early part of the second half of the year following the latest inflation data, which fell within the government's target range of 2-4 percent."

Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp., said "Philippine equities ended the day relatively unchanged, echoing the muted movement of the US market."

He added that "the next significant data release for the Philippines is the FDI (foreign direct investments) report, set to drop on Thursday, June 13."

Except for holding firms, which fell by 0.6 percent, all other sector indices ended the day in the green. Financials gained the most by 0.65 percent.

Decliners edged out gainers, 90 to 88, while 63 remained unchanged.

Read The Rest at :