Peso remains unchanged; P52.09:US$1

The dealers said on Thursday that the government’s fiscal position is improving after the 12% Reformed Value Added Tax (R-VAT) hike took effect on Wednesday. This was indicated after the peso closed at P52.09 against the US dollar on Thursday, the same as Wednesday’s closing. The Philippine peso opened at P52.10 lower than yesterday’s close but it improved at its closing this day. The greenback was trading between P52.03 and P52.19. Its weighted average ranged into P52.09 with a Total Volume of US$461 million The Philippine Stocks Exchange (PSE) said the Phisix, All shares, Financials, Industrial, Property, Services and Mining & Oil increased while the Holding Firms was decreased. Phisix index raised 15.85 points or .7394 % at 2, 159.37. The broader All shares was up 9.01 points or .6884 % 1,317.79. Financials was up 4.27 points or .6714 % at 640.24. Industrial increased 5.31 points or .1647 % at 3,229.13. Property was also up 10.84 points or 1.2025 % at 912.31. Services raised 11.84 points or 1.1483 % at 1,042.95. Mining & Oil was up 48.20 points or 1.6253 % at 3, 013.85. Holding Firms was down 2.49 points or .2397 % at 1,036.5. Gainers outnumbered losers, 49 to 35, while 48 stocks were remained. According to the dealers, the Philippine Long Distance Company recorded 1.34 percent or P25 at 1,890 on 99,280 shares. Ayala Land had 2.27 percent or .25 pesos at 11.25 on 15.2 million shares. Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s Monetary Board Committee is planning to increase their interest rate on February 9. This decision was made after the United States Federation on Tuesday raised its policy rate to 4.5 percent. -GMANEWS.TV