SM Saves Day For PSE

Market bellwether SM Investments today saved the day for The Philippine Stock Exchange index as it surmounted the lack of interest in the market in the early going that showed an uptick of 22.24 points or 0.32 percent to 7,020.83 points, the trading day's highest point.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, April 25, 2022

SM Investments powered the holding firms sub-index to a gain of a hefty 1.34 percent rise, in tandem with Ayala Corp, to overshadow the losses in the five other sub-indices as investors remained cautious with the continued Ukraine crisis plus the hawkish stance of the US Federal Reserve Board on interest rates to curb the surprise hike in inflation.

Opening low at p860 and declining further by P4.50, SM surged to p885, its closing price that showed a gain of p16 while Ayala Corp similarly hit a low of P750 before going up to its high of 779, its closing price for a p23 gain.

The Financials lost 0.89 percent, industrials by 0.65 percent, services by 0.11 percent, mining and oil by 5.14 percent, and property by 0.02 percent.

Value turnover was thin at 4.5 billion pesos with 54 gainers, 127 losers, and 47 shares unchanged. BDO Unibank emerged as the most active with trades of P287 million as it lost P2 to P133 while Dito CME, dropped below P5 on news of PSE sanctions for its stock rights deferment. Dito lost 9 centavos to close at P4.98.

Among the gainers were PLDT, up P10 to p1,910, Emperador, up 68 centavos to P19.02, Meralco, up P2.40 to P342.40, Globe, up P8.00 to P2,438, Wilcon Depot, up 65 centavos to P28.95, and ICTSI, up P1.20 to P226.20.

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