PSE Index Reaches Milestone Level

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index moved up to a milestone level Friday on bargain hunting but still exhibited a bearish sentiment, shedding 70 points during the session to close at 6,406.38 points, a modest increase of 10.78 points or 0.17 percent.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, December 20, 2024

The index climbed to a high of 6,476.93 points before succumbing to profit-taking, which brought it down to a low of 6,401.86 points.

Financials and property sub-indices dragged the overall index as they fell by 1.00 percent and 0.40 percent, respectively. Most banking stocks recorded losses, led by BDO Unibank and Metrobank, while property giants Ayala Land and SM Prime also weighed on the index.

On the other hand, holding firms gained 0.71 percent, buoyed by SM Investments' rise of ₱6 to ₱883. Industrials rose by 0.54 percent, services advanced by 1.04 percent, and mining and oil increased by 1.56 percent.

Foreign investors remained net sellers, with foreign buying amounting to ₱3.883 billion versus foreign selling of ₱4.661 billion, resulting in net foreign selling of ₱777 million.

Total trades reached ₱6.94 billion, with 101 gainers, 87 losers, and 49 unchanged shares. Port operator ICTSI emerged as the most active stock, with trades amounting to ₱1.09 billion as it gained 1.30 percent to close at ₱390, up by ₱5.

Among the gainers were Monde Nissin, Prime Media, CTS Global, Basic Energy, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Century Pacific Food, Citicore Renewable Energy, Globe Telecom, Converge ICT, and Dito CME.

Belle Corporation, Digiplus, PhilWeb, Nickel Asia, Apex Mining, Wilcon Depot, Puregold, Jollibee Foods, Manila Water, Keepers Holdings, Alternergy, ACEN Corporation, Abacore, LT Group, MRC Allied, Filinvest Development, and DoubleDragon also ended the day up.

Among the losers were Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), AREIT, Ayala Corporation, PLDT, DMCI Holdings, Union Bank, First Gen, Pilipinas Shell, Ginebra San Miguel, Universal Robina, CEMEX Holdings, GT Capital, Robinsons Land, Cebu Air, Vitarich, Meralco, Bloomberry, ABS-CBN, and GMA Network.

Unchanged stocks included Aboitiz Power, Citicore Renewable Energy, Petron, SPNEC, D&L Industries, OceanaGold, San Miguel Corporation, Atlas Mining, Figaro Coffee, and Megawide.