THE peso fell for a third straight trading day on Monday and the stock market also plunged over 1 percent to the 6,300 level, with investors said to have been spooked by unfavorable news both here and abroad.
The currency weakened by 46 and a half centavos to P56.78 versus the dollar while the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) shed 76.72 points or 1.20 percent to end the day at 6,329.19.
The broader All Shares followed with a 32.30-point or 0.94-percent drop to 3,397.89.
'Along with the lower local gross domestic product growth, Pantheon Macroeconomics' [Philippine] economic growth forecast downgrade from 5.5 percent to 4.5 percent also weighed further on sentiment,' Philstocks Financial Inc. research associate Claire Alviar said.
'Overseas, Asian markets were also mostly in the red as worries over the property sector in China heightened,' she added.
Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan echoed this, saying 'Philippine shares slid as fears escalated surrounding China's worsening property market slump, pointing towards tightening conditions.'
'The latest releases show China's bank loans slid, while consumer and producer prices both declined,' he added. 'This comes after China's trading data fell below analysts' projections last week.'
The peso opened trading at the day's low of P56.45:$1 and ranged as high as P56.99. Volume reached P1.410 billion, slightly lower than the P1.431 billion recorded in the previous session.
At the stock market, the mining and oil sector was the day's only gainer via a 0.60-percent rise. Property had the biggest loss of 2.13 percent.
Just under 716.2 million shares worth some P4.58 billion changed hands.
Decliners overwhelmed advancers, 118 to 45, while 53 remained unchanged.