PSE Index Up On Bargain Hunting

The Philippine Stock Exchange index today surged on bargain hunting as investors shrugged off the Ukraine narrative and entered the market, resulting in a 98.78 point or 1.37 percent rise to a higher milestone level of 7,311.01, its highest index point.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange Index, February 28, 2022

Investors crowded into property firms SM Prime and Ayala Land, which both gained identical P1.80 with the former closing at P39.80 and emerging as the most active stock with P1.21 billion in trades, while the latter closed at P39 with trades of P648 million, the third most active.

The two property firms opened at their lowest price points of P37.05 for ALI and P37.35 for SMPH bolstering the property sub-index with a hefty 4.06 percent rise.

All sub-indices posted gains save for the services sub-index, which had a loss of 0.12 percent on the back of the decline in the shares of stock of Converge, which dropped to P26, down by 95 centavos on trades of P325 million.

Telcos Globe and PLDT also went down respectively by P130 to P2,568 and by P1 to P1,799.

The mining and oil sub-index posted the second-biggest gain of 2.77 percent with Semirara up by a hefty 10.8 percent or P2.70 to P27.70, followed by industrials, up 2.43 percent, holdings, up 0.72 percent, and financials, up by 0.11 percent.

BDO Unibank was down by 90 centavos to P129.20 while Bank of PI was up by P2 to P100. Value turnover was almost double the average at P11.6 billion with 108 gainers, 79 losers, and 49 shares unchanged.

Market bellwether SM Investments gained P21 to P892 while Monde rose to P16.52, up by P1.72 or 11.62 percent. Jollibee opened low at P236 and closed at its high point of P241 after hitting a high of P4 higher.

A big story in the market today was the suspension of Solar Philippines, an IPO that surged more than 100 percent as the PSE officials sought clarification for the company on its disclosure of a share-swap deal with its parent firm that involves 24.,3 billion shares priced at P2.50.

The suspension is seen to persist until the P61 billion share swap transaction has been adequately explained.

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