Telcos, Gaming Stocks Push Up PSE Index To Hefty Rise

Gaming stock DigiPlus, telcos, and ICTSI towed the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to a substantial gain, posting a 106.56-point advance or 1.68 percent to 6,462.25 points. 

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, July 23, 2025

Local investors entered the market in a big way—accounting for 60 percent of trades for the first time—with foreign investors finally on the buying side of the equation.

DigiPlus, which again topped the most active stocks with ₱951 million in trades, climbed by ₱4.47 or 22.60 percent to ₱24.25, as local investors dominated the trades while foreign investors posted ₱150 million in net selling. 

Market bellwether SM Investments, which soared to ₱841.50—up by ₱13 or 1.57 percent—saw foreign investors as net buyers to the tune of ₱2.8 million, with local investors accounting for the rest of the total turnover of ₱117 million.

Globe Telecom, PLDT, Converge, and Dito CME also supported the rise in the share prices of gaming stocks, including PhilWeb and Bloomberry, resulting in a huge 5.84 percent advance in the services sub-index. 

Holding firms rose by 1.34 percent as conglomerates posted significant gains, particularly Ayala Corp., GT Capital, and JG Summit. 

Other gainers included financials, up by 0.48 percent; industrials, up by 0.44 percent; mining and oil, up by 2.08 percent; and property, up by 0.36 percent.

Value turnover amounted to ₱10.17 billion, of which foreign trades accounted for ₱4.9 billion—highlighting the strong entry of local investors who had previously stayed on the sidelines. 

Foreign buying reached ₱2.547 billion, while foreign selling totaled ₱2.366 billion, resulting in net foreign buying of ₱181 million and breaking the week-long foreign selling streak that had previously punctuated market performance.

There were 128 gainers, 71 losers, and 49 unchanged in trading that saw the index close at its highest point, as traders awaited the expected two additional rate cuts from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas—moves anticipated to boost economic growth, particularly in housing starts.

Among the gainers were BDO Unibank, Meralco, Puregold, Ayala Land, SM Prime, Aboitiz Power, EastWest Bank, China Bank, Metrobank, Security Bank, Manulife, Synergy Grid, Shell Pilipinas, and Emperador. 

SMC Food and Beverage, Universal Robina, LT Group, Apex Mining, OceanaGold, Philex Mining, Cosco Capital, MREIT REIT, DoubleDragon, Filinvest REIT, Robinsons Land, Cebu Air, Wilcon Depot, and Citicore REIT also ended the day in the green.

Stocks in the red were Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Topline, RCBC, Citystate Savings, ACEN Corp., Alternergy, Manila Water, Semirara Mining, SPNEC, Century Pacific Food, D&L Industries, Figaro Coffee, and Abacore. 

Aboitiz Equity, Alliance Global, DMCI Holdings, San Miguel Corp., Century Properties, RL Commercial REIT, Vista Land, STI Holdings, Atlas Mining, and Ginebra saw declines, as well.

Meanwhile, Jollibee Foods, PSE, Megawide, Vitarich, Citicore REIT, Megaworld, ABS-CBN, and Nickel Asia remained unchanged.