PSE Index Rebounds To A Rise

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index Thursday broke through another resistance level, reaching a milestone of 7,202.16 points, up by 46.26 points or 0.65%.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, September 19, 2024

Value turnover was up by a third from the average, and the market closed with just one sub-index down on profit-taking: the industrial sector, which lost 0.12%.

Food giant Jollibee Foods declined at the close, settling at P257, down by P5.80 after hitting a high of P266. Monde Nissin also lost 10 centavos, ending at P10.06 after reaching a high of P10.34.

These losses contributed to the industrial sector's 0.12% decline, although it had been up by 0.19% before trading paused for recess.

Other sectors performed better: financials rose by 1.95%, holding firms gained 0.04%, services increased by 0.19%, mining and oil surged by 2.43%, and property was up by 0.93%.

Market chartists expect continued profit-taking to weigh on the PSE index, citing an "inverted hammer" situation.

However, optimism was boosted by the surprise move from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which cut interest rates by 50 basis points due to favorable inflation management. This spurred gains in banking stocks.

Further driving market sentiment was sustained net foreign buying, with foreign purchases totaling P4.53 billion against foreign selling of P2.84 billion, resulting in net foreign buying of P1.68 billion.

Foreign players accounted for P7.3 billion out of the total value turnover of P8.115 billion. In today’s trades, there were 113 gainers, 78 losers, and 62 shares unchanged.

Among the gainers were Ayala Corp, BDO Unibank, SM Prime, Ayala Land, China Bank, Citystate Savings, PNB, SSI Group, Nickel Asia, Chelsea Logistics, Cosco Capital, D&L Industries, and GMA-7.

Also riding on the upward trend were Dito CME, Boulevard Holdings, Puregold, OceanaGold, Belle Corp, Cebu Air, PAL, Converge, Megaworld, Axelum, ACEN Corp, Security Bank, Union Bank, Alternergy, Aboitiz Power, Citicore REIT, Citicore Renewable Trust, First Gen, Meralco, and DoubleDragon.

Losers included market bellwether SM Investments, which rose to a high of P984 before closing down at P964, a loss of P1.

Other decliners were ICTSI, DigiPlus, Roxas and Co., MRC Allied, Semirara Mining, Manila Water, Ginebra, GT Capital, JG Summit, Robinsons Land, Philodrill, San Miguel, and Bloomberry.

Meanwhile, unchanged shares included Century Pacific Food, Basic Energy, CEMEX, Alliance Global, Figaro Coffee, Shell Pilipinas, Aboitiz Equity, PLDT, Philweb, Abacore, and Shang Properties.