The peso surged on Tuesday, closing at P49.635 against the US dollar from P49.05 in the previous day.

Volume at the Philippine Dealing System reached $577 million from P1.119 billion on Monday.

But stocks fell to profit-taking as the Philippine Stock Exchange Index reversed its gains during early trading. The index closed 16.5 points lower to end at 7,.601.40.

Volume amounted to 1.47 billion shares valued at P7.13 billion. Foreigners remained net buyers with purchases of P3.82 billion and selling at P3.74 billion.

In the broader market, there were 111 declines and 87 gainers while 47 were unchanged.

Bucking the market trend were GT Capital Holdings, up 3.59 percent to P1,.269 and PLDT Inc, up 0.85 percent to P1,770. DMS