PSE Index Buoyed To A Surge By Rate Cut

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index surged Friday following a rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, as inflation worries eased, pushing share prices higher to close at a milestone high of 6,847.37 points, up a hefty 2.31 percent.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, August 16, 2024

Services posted the biggest gain, rising by 3.12 percent, with top-traded ICTSI increasing by 5.61 percent to P395, up by P21 on trades amounting to P1.17 billion.

Financials climbed by 2.15 percent, holding firms rose by 1.52 percent, industrials gained 1.85 percent, property increased by 1.91 percent, and mining and oil edged up by 0.17 percent.

Value turnover reached P7.1 billion, with gainers doubling the number of losers, 134 to 68, as investors rushed to pick up stocks expected to benefit from the 25 basis point rate reduction by the BSP.

Foreign trades amounted to P6.2 billion, with net foreign buying of P654 million on foreign purchases of P3.445 billion against foreign sales of P2.790 billion.

Among the gainers were Ayala Land, SM Prime, Meralco, Jollibee Foods, Converge, BDO Unibank, Metrobank, PNB, Security Bank, Union Bank, Bank of PI, ACEN Corp, Aboitiz Power, Ayala Corp, Roxas and Co., Ginebra, Megawide, Century Foods, D&L Industries, and Haus Talk.

Wilcon Depot, SSI Group, Puregold, Aboitiz Equity, Alliance Global, Cosco Capital, Semirara Mining, Cebu Air, Globe Telecom, PLDT, Dito CME, MacroAsia, and market bellwether SM Investments, also rose.

Among the losers were Universal Robina, AbaCore, Basic Energy, Citicore RE, DMC Holdings, GMA-7, AREIT, Bloomberry, Apex Mining, Atlas Mining, NickelAsia, OceanaGold, and Enex Energy.

Meanwhile, unchanged stocks included PAL, Century Properties, Monde Nissin, DoubleDragon, Petron, Alternergy, Axelum, AgriNurture, DoubleDragon, and CEMEX Holdings.