PSE Index Soars on Bargain Hunt

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index surged on a bargain hunt today after last week’s sharp losses, posting a hefty 2.03 percent gain to close at 6,041.26 points, up by 120.39 points.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, December 22, 2025

Traders said last week’s decline was deemed overly pronounced, prompting investors to snap up beaten-down blue chips and push the index back above the 6,000-point level, even as foreign investors remained net sellers to the tune of ₱975 million.

Save for market bellwether SM Investments, which was unchanged at ₱700, all of the Top 10 most active stocks posted significant gains, with global port operator ICTSI emerging as the most active issue.

ICTSI logged ₱781 million in trades and climbed 4.55 percent to ₱574.50.

Traders credited the index’s close at its intra-day high to renewed optimism, although overhangs remain.

These include continued concerns over alleged ghost flood control projects that may weigh on the country’s growth outlook, as well as fears of a possible credit downgrade that could affect government borrowing requirements.

BDO Unibank rose 4.45 percent to ₱133.70, while Bank of the Philippine Islands gained 2.84 percent. Security Bank, however, closed 3.74 percent lower at ₱64.40 despite a ₱1.82 billion block sale transacted at ₱70.245.

Block sales accounted for ₱3 billion of the day’s total ₱8.28 billion turnover. Aside from Security Bank, Emperador registered ₱680 million in block trades.

Foreign buying amounted to ₱3.83 billion, while foreign selling reached ₱4.81 billion, bringing total foreign trades to ₱8.6 billion—indicating that offshore investors were active on both sides of the market.

By sector, financials climbed 2.61 percent, industrials rose 1.14 percent, holding firms added 0.41 percent, services advanced 3.13 percent, mining and oil surged 3.09 percent, and property gained 1.32 percent.

There were 130 gainers, 69 losers, and 57 unchanged stocks, including GT Capital, Alternergy, Haus Talk, DITO CME, Converge, Cosco Capital, and VistaREIT.

Among the gainers were Ayala Land, SM Prime, Metrobank, Jollibee Foods, Apex Mining, OceanaGold, Maynilad, Meralco, Axelum, Century Food, Universal Robina, ABS-CBN, Synergy Grid, PNB, and DigiPlus.

Decliners included ACEN Corp., Vantage, Basic Energy, Integrated Micro-Electronics, Belle Corp., Bloomberry, Puregold, Petron, Megawide, Filinvest REIT, and AgrinNurture.