That day we boldly declared: “Those who shorted the peso and the PHISIX should be forewarned and forearmed when the market resumes on Tuesday.”
This was on account of our coverage of one of the most tumultuous days in the history of the Philippine congress. On Monday, Manuel Villar cleverly and singularly transmitted the articles of impeachment against President Joseph Estrada while the entire congress watched in a surprised shock. Six hours later, Villar was ousted as Speaker of the House.
At the same time that Villar was rapidly reading the endorsement of the articles of impeachment, the Senate removed Franklin Drilon as senate president in a political machination that was only finalized two hours before the Senate convened. Drilon knew that Aquilino Pimentel Jr. was to be installed in his stead.
Stock market surges
Tuesday came and the Philippine Stock Index (PHISIX) surged 13.64 points to 1,469.58 after frenzied trading that saw 161 tick movements in 1,081 trades. If you acted on our forecast you would have made money even on a passive index based trading.
The stock exchange, which has two trading floors – one in Makati and one in Ortigas district – absorbed Ps174 million in foreign buying when 32 stocks advanced compared to only 12 stocks declining.
The PHISIX reached a low of 1,447.27 and a high of 1,469.58 before closing at 1454.32 with a total volume of Ps724.13 million.
Peso up
The peso on the other hand opened at Ps50.300 to the US dollar, stronger than the previous day’s close of Ps50.350. The opening price at the Philippine Dealing System (PDS) proved to be its weakest point as the peso went from strength to strength throughout the day.
The peso hit its strongest level at Ps49.650 before finally closing at Ps49.830 by 4pm, at which time the PDS closes. The PDS is the country's interbank currency dealing system.
With a total volume of $93.5 million, the peso gained 52 centavos on Tuesday.
