PSE Index In Muted Rise

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index today went up on another muted rise even as it hurdled a new milestone level.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, March 7, 2023

Investors continued to cash in their gains at each opportunity with the continued bias towards sideways movement on concerns about the economy to close at 6,705.12 points, up by 34 points or 0.51 percent to 6,705.12 points.

Hitting a high of 6,739.50 points, the index lost momentum on the sell-downs with six of the Top 20 most active stocks that showed losses at the end of trade actually hitting higher share prices during trading until the profit-takers again took hold.

Thus, market bellwether SM Investments, which closed the day lower by P6 to P880, its lowest price point, actually went up to a high of P898 and then started to decline as the trade progressed.

Five other share prices in the Top 20 most active stocks actually went up and were higher than their Monday close due to the profit-taking. Globe Telecom, the third most active stock with P348 million in trades, ended the day P24 lower to P1,850 but had risen to as high as P1,885; Ayala Land, which also went down to P28.30, its lowest price point, for a loss of 35 centavos. It hit a high of P29.45.

Metro Pacific went up to a high of P4.51 but closed at P4.39, down by 13 centavos; Metrobank hit a high of P60.30 but closed 95 centavos lower to P59; Wilcon Depot hit a high of P31.45 but was down by 25 centavos as it closed at P30.70; and NickelAsia lost 5 centavos to P7.65 though it peaked at P7.87.

BDO Unibank was the most active stock with P435 million in trades as it went up by 50 centavos to P127.50 while Universal Robina was the second most active with trades of P364 million as it gained P9.90 to P145.

The other gainers were Bank of PI, up by P2.70 to P108.50, Megaworld, up by 6 centavos to P2.11, Robinsons Land, up 12 centavos to P14.92, ICTSI, up a peso to P208, GT Capital, up P11.50 to P528, SM Prime, up 85 centavos to P36.40, Jollibee Foods, up 20 centavos to P232.20, Aboitiz Equity, up 10 centavos to P53.90, and JG Summit, up 90 centavos to P51,80.

Save for the holding firms, which lost 0.32 percent, all other sub-indices posted gains.

Financials went up by 0.69 percent, industrials by 1.57 percent, services by 0.04 percent, mining and oil by 0.34 percent, and property by 1.08 percent. There were 102 gainers, 84 losers, and 48 shares unchanged.

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