PSE Index Plunges on FTSE Rebalancing and Oil Price Concerns

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index ended Friday sharply lower, falling 102.73 points, or 1.72%, to 5,855.91 points as FTSE index rebalancing added to selling pressure amid continued market uncertainty and expectations of higher fuel prices.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, September 18 , 2026

The PSEi closed at its intraday low. The broader All Shares index also declined 1.22% to 3,277.80.

All sectoral indices finished lower except mining and oil, which gained 1.65%.

Holding firms fell 2.45%, services declined 2.53%, property dropped 1.55%, industrials lost 0.56%, and financials slipped 0.53%. Market bellwether SM Investments plunged 5.98% to ₱503, while market favorite ICTSI fell 3.21% to ₱905.

Meralco declined 0.95% to ₱480. SM Investments' closing price and percentage decline are confirmed by PSE data.

Cebu Air, operator of Cebu Pacific, dropped 8.19% to ₱21.85, while Bloomberry Resorts fell 7.18% to ₱1.94. Both were among the day's biggest decliners.

Mining and oil was the only sector to advance, rising 1.65%, with gold and mining shares providing some support as investors sought exposure to assets traditionally viewed as defensive during periods of geopolitical uncertainty.

Apex Mining was among the sector's gainers, while ACEN, China Bank and Manila Water were also among the stocks that advanced during Friday's session.

Trading value reached ₱16.23 billion on the PSE, with total volume at 1.62 billion shares and 109,158 trades. The market recorded 79 gainers, 117 decliners and 43 unchanged issues.

Foreign investors recorded net selling of about ₱1.46 billion, based on ₱10.24 billion in foreign buying and ₱11.70 billion in foreign selling.

The combined value of foreign buying and selling was about ₱21.94 billion.

The sharp decline came as investors also remained cautious ahead of an expected significant increase in domestic fuel prices next week.

Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said investors were monitoring the potential effect of higher energy costs on corporate operating expenses and overall market sentiment.