PSE Index Bludgeoned By Exit Of Foreign Investors, Posts Big Loss

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index today recorded a substantial loss, dropping below the 6,000-point index mark.

Photo Insert: The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, October 27, 2023

This decline was primarily driven by losses in holdings and property sectors and continued foreign investor exit due to ongoing economic uncertainty.

The index closed at 5,961.99, down by 56.50 points or 0.94 percent. In fact, during Thursday's trading session, the index briefly touched 5,974.17 points before recovering to the 6,000-point level.

The market's bellwether, SM Investments, experienced a 1.04 percent decline to P805.50, resulting in an 8.50-point loss and a 1.31 percent slide, marking the most significant decline among the sub-indices.

Following this, the property sector declined by 1.27 percent, with industrials losing 0.73 percent, financials down by 0.20 percent, services down by 0.42 percent, and mining and oil down by 0.21 percent.

Total value turnover amounted to P3.7 billion, with 78 gainers, 93 losers, and 53 shares remaining unchanged. Foreign buying amounted to P2.323 billion, while foreign selling reached P2.652 billion, resulting in a net foreign selling of P328 million.

The top 10 most active stocks all closed in the red. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) emerged as the most active with trades totaling P565 million, closing 10 centavos lower at P98.90.

This was followed by Ayala Land, with P266 million in trades, closing one peso lower at P26.80, and ICTSI, with P237 million in trades, closing at P199.50, down by P1.50.

The market is expected to continue trading sideways with a downward bias, but today's trading session showed a glimmer of hope with some blue-chip stocks closing slightly higher, albeit with minimal gains.

Among the gainers were ACEN Corp, which increased by 0.05 to P5.15, D&L Industries, up by 5 centavos to P6.35, Emperador, up by 5 centavos to P20.80, Abacore, up by 1 centavo to P1.05, Century Food, up by 20 centavos to P28.20, First Gen, up by 6 centavos to P18.08, Megawide, up by 2 centavos to P3.15, Converge, up by 18 centavos to P8.38, Puregold, up by 10 centavos to P26.90, and Wilcon Depot, up by 16 centavos to P19.80.

On the other hand, the losers included BDO Unibank, down by 50 centavos to P128.50, Jollibee Foods, down by P5.40 to P209.20, SM Prime, down by 10 centavos to P30, Ayala Corp, down by a peso to P603, Meralco, down by P7.80 to P352.20, and Universal Robina, down by P2 to P110.

Globe Telecom was also down by P10 to P1,769, PLDT, down by P4 to P1,227, Bloomberry, down by 20 centavos to P9.10, Semirara Mining, down by 10 centavos to P30.05, Security Bank, down by 25 centavos to P74.95, and Aboitiz Equity, down by 90 centavos to P46.40.

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