PSE Index Up A Bit In Volatile Run

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index today finished the day a bit higher after a volatile run that saw it go down another milestone level before bargain hunters moved in, to close with a fractional rise of 6.37 points or 0.19 percent up to 6,711.49 points.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, March 8, 2023

Market bellwether SM Investments saved the day for the index though the Sy-led stock also gyrated to a low of P858 and a high of P894 though it closed at P889, up by P9.

The index hit a bottom of 6,617 points, down by a hefty 87.26 points from its Tuesday close before going back to its milestone level on investors buying into oversold stocks.

Holding firms went up by just 0.06 percent as Ayala Corp lost P4 to P641, property lost 0.96 percent, mining and oil went down by 2.86 percent, and industrials declined by 0.28 percent.

Services rose by 0.19 percent as ICTSI (which was the third most active stock with trades of P301 million) went up by P3 to P211, and PLDT gained P12 to P1,325 to offset top-traded Globe Telecom's loss of P11 to P1,839 on trades of P475 million.

BDO Unibank was the second-most traded stock with P357 million in transactions as it led the financials to a gain of 1.03 percent. Other banking shares that went up among the Top 20 stocks were Metrobank up by 4.49 percent to P61.65 or a gain of P2.65, and Security Bank up P1.75 to P98.75.

Value turnover was below average at P5.4 billion with 72 gainers, 120 losers, and 46 shares unchanged.

Among the losers were Ayala Land, down by 15 centavos to P28.15, Metro Pacific, down by 20 centavos to P4.19, ACEN Corp, down 18 centavos to P6.52, Robinsons Land, down 28 centavos, Jollibee Foods, down P2.20 to P230, Wilcon Depot, down P1.05 to P29.65, Megaworld, down 7 centavos to P2.04, and Aboitiz Equity, down P1.30 to P52.60.

Universal Robina was unchanged at P145.

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