PSE Index Bucks U.S. Decline

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index today bucked a decline in the US markets on account of a still-hawkish US Fed rate policy that saw the Dow Jones pile up a second day of losses as investors remained hopeful about a Christmas rally as corporates posted better earnings in the third quarter, to finish the day at 6,437.38 points, a gain of 33.64 points or 0.53 percent.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, November 18, 2022

The optimism was prevalent as the sub-indices ended with gains although midway in trading, there were indicative losses until the buyers came in in full force to overhaul the pulsating declines with the mining and oil posting a minimal 0.08 percent increase and the holding firms, a much lower 0.001 upswing.

Financials went up by 0.95 percent, industrials by 0.67 percent, services by 0.70 percent, and property by 0.78 percent. The market opened cautiously as the US market went down on fears of more rate hikes in the US Fed even with the promising economic data that augured well for the US economy.

A higher rate increase in the US Fed rates usually causes a beeline for US financial assets and away from emerging markets like the Philippines.

But the better third quarter earnings of Philippine firms boosted interest in the local market, especially with the release of cash dividends from listed stocks. There was profit-taking at the start of trade but this gave way to the entry of bargain hunters that pushed up the index from a low of 6,403.50 points.

Market bellwether SM Investments went down by P8 to P859 on trades of P311 million, the second most active stock with its share prices going up to P878 and a low of P855. Ayala Land was the most active stock with trades of P512 million as it went up by a hefty 4.21 percent to close at P29.70, an increase of P1.20.

BDO Unibank was the third most active stock with P309 million as it gained 40 centavos to P128.90 while Bank of PI rose by P1.70 to P97.50, Metrobank was up by P1.45 to P51.65, Security Bank, up by 45 centavos to P91.95, and EastWest Bank, up by 15 centavos to P6.19.

Semirara Mining and Converge were both unchanged at P30.55 and P15 respectively. Globe Telecom was down by P8 to P2,214 while Holcim Cement lost 29 centavos to P4.

Value turnover was below average at P5.32 billion with 106 gainers, 67 losers, and 40 shares unchanged. DM Consunji went up by 36 centavos to P9.56 while ACEN Corp was down by 5 centavos to P7, Meralco was up 60 centavos to P306.20 while Universal Robina went down by 30 centavos to P131.90.

Monde was up by 40 centavos to P12.72 while Ayala Corp was down P2.50 to P665, Abacore Holdings was up by 14 centavos to P2.85, SM Prime was down by 60 centavos to 34, GT Capital was up by P20.20 to P433 , ICTSI was up by P3.80 to P188, PLDT, up a peso to P1,579, and Jollibee Foods up by P2 to P244.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic