PSE Index Surges But Trades Muted

The Philippine Stock Exchange index today surged to a new milestone level after investors priced in the economic uncertainties such as the declining value of the peso vis-a-vis the dollar, instead opting to buy shares that have gone down for the last three weeks, to power to 126.37 points or a 2.04 percent hike to close at 6,309.99 points.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, July 5, 2022

All sub-indices were up with the property giants posting big gains after losses of the past three weeks with top-traded Ayala Land closing with a 2.70 percent hike to P26.40, up by 70 centavos on trades of P413 million, while SM Prime rose by a higher P1.45 or 4.02 percent to P37.50.

The property sub-index closed with a hefty 3.41 percent while financials rose by 2.44 percent, industrials by 1.90 percent, holding firms by 1.47 percent, mining and oil by 1.15 percent, and services by 0.79 percent.

Value turnover, however, remained muted with just P3.98 billion in trades even as the index opened at its lowest of 6.193 points and closed at its highest. Analysts said that the investors have priced in the continuing global economic downswing with the uncertainty brought by the Ukraine crisis.

Also, they see the positive signs in the prevailing exchange rate as it is positive for OFW families and Philippine exports as well as BPO business which have surged lately. The lower peso is seen to drive up consumption which results in higher economic growth.

Semirara Mining was the second most active with P349 million in trades as it powered up the mining and oil sub-index with a 2.49 percent rise to P37.10, up by 90 centavos. P1.10 to P20.90 for a 5 percent decline that resulted in the services sub-index posting a sub-one percent rise.

Market bellwether SM Investments also posted a loss as it went down by P8 to P792 while Puregold was another losing stock among the top 20 active shares closing at P30.30, down by 65 centavos.

Philippine Seven closed unchanged at P55, the fourth stock that did not post a rise with the new milestone level.

Among the gainers were BDO Unibank, up by P3.20 to P118.70, Monde up by 70 ICTSI, up by P2.20 to P186, PLDT up P46 to P1,775, Globe up P26 to 2,226, Solar Philippines up 2 centavos to P1.76, Bank 0f PI up by P3 to P89, and Ayala Corp, up by P10 to P620.

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