PSE Index Falters On Foreign Selling

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index declined today as foreign investors once again became net sellers, resulting in muted value turnover.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, October 2, 2023

A last-minute downturn in the index-heavy holdings firms contributed to its closing at 6,304.53 points, down by 16.71 points or 0.26 percent. Five minutes before the closing bell, the holdings firms index was up by a meager 0.01 percent.

However, a sell-off in market bellwether SM Investments, which affected its property subsidiary SM Prime, coupled with a 40-centavo drop in JG Summit to P37.70, led the index to finish the day down by 0.16 percent.

SM Investments was the most active stock with P774 million in trading volume as it lost P2.50 to close at P841.

Union Bank, which is set to be excluded from the PSEI by October 4, was the second most active stock, with a decline of P2.70 to P61.80 on trades amounting to P299 million.

Bloomberry, which recently received a P5.6 billion cash infusion, was the third most active with a closing price of P9.85, down by 25 centavos, and had a trading volume of P230 million.

The financials sector lost 0.50 percent, while industrials gained 0.31 percent, services increased by 0.11 percent, and mining and oil, as well as property, were down by 0.45 percent and 0.52 percent, respectively.

Foreign selling amounted to P402 million, with foreign buying at P1.91 billion and foreign selling at P2.32 billion. The total value turnover was just P3.8 billion, with 92 gainers, 76 losers, and 63 shares remaining unchanged.

Among the gainers were ABS CBN Holdings, up by 15.56 percent to P3.64, a gain of 49 centavos, Top Frontier, up by P8.80 to P119.80, Dito CME, up by 17 centavos to P3.40, and Alternergy, up by 4 centavos to P0.84, following its disclosure of a P12 billion mandate for funding its wind farms.

Other gainers included Ayala Land, up by 5 centavos to P29.50, Universal Robina, up by P1.10 to P120, GT Capital, up by 16 centavos to P586, Emperador, up by 15 centavos to P20.90, Security Bank, up by P1.05 to P81, Alliance Global, up by 4 centavos to P12.36, Aboitiz Power, up by 85 centavos to P34.35, Semirara Mining, up by 70 centavos to P35.60, and Ayala Corp, up by one peso to P625.

On the downside, losers included Aboitiz Equity, down by 55 centavos to P49, Bank of the PI, down by 70 centavos to P111.30, Converge, down by 12 centavos to P9.48, Jollibee Foods, down by P1.60 to P227.80, Nickel Asia, down by 27 centavos to P5.85, BDO Unibank, down by 50 centavos to P141.40, SM Prime, down by 45 centavos to P29.85, and Metrobank, down by 30 centavos to P53.70.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic