The PSEi shed 14.78 points, or -0.27%, ending the day at 5,455.92. Most sectoral indices closed lower while industrials (+0.04%) bucked the trend. Mining and oil (-1.49%) led the decline with property (-0.53%) as heavy-weight ALI (-1.72%) was sold down.
Services (-0.37%), financials (-0.25%), and holding firms (-0.19%) ended in the red. Market breadth was negative with declines outnumbering advances 91 to 69 with 52 issues unchanged and value turnover at Php4.82 billion.
The country’s exports recovered for the month of September as outward shipments grew 22.8% year-on-year to US$4.78 billion. The growth was attributed by the increase in value of shipments of commodities, most notably were tuna (+128%), metal components (+116.6%) and bananas (+87.8%).
On a monthly basis, exports also increased by 26.0% from the US$3.80 billion registered in August. Cumulative merchandise exports for 9M2012 grew by 7.2% to US$40.067 billion from $37.376 billion recorded in the same period a year ago. Electronics, which is the country’s top export, comprised 38.3% of total revenues.
The Philippines’ top export destination for the month of September was Japan, with revenues reaching US$1.47 billion, followed by the US, which registered US$602.89 million.
The Philippines peso weakened for a second day as investors surmised that the central bank would take action to temper rapid gains in the local currency. The peso lost 4 centavos to close at 41.115.