PSE Index Battered By Profit-Taking, Falls Below Milestone Level

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index declined Wednesday to a milestone level of 7,367.66 points, down by 45.50 points or 0.61%, as profit-taking ensued following a surge in early trading.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, October 23, 2024

The top three traded stocks, all blue chips, posted losses by the close.

Only the holding firms, led by market bellwether SM Investments, which gained P4 to P960 (up 0.08%), and mining and oil (buoyed by higher gold prices with a 0.43% rise), resisted the sell-off.

Financials dipped by 0.18%, with top-traded BDO Unibank losing 40 centavos to P163.70.

Services fell by 1.92% as second top-traded ICTSI dropped 2.49% to P407. Property lost 1.04%, with third top-traded Ayala Land down 1.26% (or 45 centavos) to P35.35. Industrials dropped by 0.24%.

Value turnover was down by a quarter to P4.51 billion, with local investors accounting for just P50 million of trades. Foreign investors were net sellers, to the tune of P159 million, with foreign buying at P2.154 billion and foreign selling at P2.313 billion.

Market breadth was bearish, with only a few second-liners posting gains in their share prices.

There were 128 losers compared to 71 gainers, while 55 shares remained unchanged. Among the unchanged were Manila Water, Cosco Capital, GT Capital, Philodrill, Nickel Asia, MacroAsia, and ABS-CBN.

Losers included Metrobank, Jollibee Foods, Century Pacific Food, Aboitiz Equity, Cemex Holdings, AREIT, Globe Telecom, PLDT, SM Prime, PSE, East West Bank, Union Bank, SPNEC, Shell Pilipinas, Vitarich, and Megawide.

Alliance Global, JG Summit, Century Properties, Rockwell, Converge, DigiPlus, SSI Group, PhilWeb, Boulevard Holdings, Bloomberry, Synergy Grid, Petron, China Bank, DoubleDragon, and Megaworld were also stuck in the red.

Gainers included OceanaGold, Apex Mining, Philex Mining, Wilcon Depot, Puregold, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Monde Nissin, Citystate Savings, PNB, Semirara Mining, Robinsons Land, Abacore, PAL, GMA 7, MRC Allied, Security Bank, Meralco, Emperador, Ginebra, Belle Corp., and Ayala Corp.