PSE Index Surges Above New Level

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index today surged to a new milestone level on bets that the corporates will turn in bigger profits on uptick in business demand, surging to 6,128 points, up by a sizable 158.31 points or 2.65 percent, its biggest gain so far.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, October 18, 2022

All sub-indices posted big gains bannered by the property firms as the No. 1 and No. 2 most active stocks, Ayala Land and SM Prime soared to new highs on pent-up demand in property projects forecast by analysts.

ALI rose by 7.72 percent to P25.80, up by P1.85 on trades of P572 million while SMPH went up by a peso or 3.03 percent to P34 with trades of P430 million. As a result, the property sub-index closed 4.20 percent higher to tow the index to a new milestone level.

Financials gained 2.78 percent, services and holding firms by a similar 2.23 percent, industrials up by 0.70 percent, and mining and oil by 0.96 percent.

Market bellwether SM Investments, however, lost P13 to close at P786 on profit taking, but a big rise in JG Summit took the bite as it posted the second biggest gain of 11.31 percent, going up by P4.65 to P45.80. Ayala Corp went up by 6.39 percent to P649, up by P39 and Aboitiz Equity rose by P1.50 to P59.50.

There were two other losers in the Top 20 active stocks outside of SM Investments. These were Converge, which continued to be battered by a sell-down to close at P12.60, down by 20 centavos, and DM Consunji, which went down by 44 centavos to P10.16.

PLDT and Globe Telecom posted gains of P29 to P1,479 and P106 to P2,306 respectively while ICTSI rose by P4 to P176.

Market analysts see the market going back to the 7,500 milestone level on the surge in business activities with the opening of the economy and the banking sector is seen to lead the charge with bigger profit margins and lower provisioning for losses as indebted companies pad their bottom lines.

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