PSE Index Declines Amid Persistent Foreign Selling

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index declined today as foreign selling persisted, with investors showing varying levels of engagement in selected stocks that experienced market price volatility.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, December 3, 2024

The index closed at 6,734.21 points, a loss of 8.68 points or 0.13%. During the session, the index briefly fell below its support level, dropping to 6,707.13 points before recovering by the close.

Four of the sub-indices ended lower: financials slipped by 0.16%, industrials declined by 0.03%, holding firms dropped 0.57%, and property edged down by 0.04%.

However, the services sector rose 0.53%, supported by gains in top-traded International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), which posted a turnover of ₱790 million, as well as gaming stock DigiPlus and telecommunications giant PLDT.

Mining and oil also saw a marginal growth of 0.03%.

Investors were selective in their stock picks. Property giants Ayala Land and SM Prime closed with mixed results: Ayala Land rose by ₱0.15 to ₱29.15, while SM Prime dropped by the same amount to ₱26.45.

Market bellwether SM Investments fluctuated between a high of ₱916 and a low of ₱895, eventually closing at ₱904, down ₱14.

The lack of strong catalysts continued to weigh on the market, compounded by concerns over anti-money laundering issues in the country.

The day's value turnover reached ₱5.77 billion, while net foreign selling totaled ₱389 million, with foreign selling of ₱3.507 billion outpacing foreign buying of ₱3.117 billion. Citystate Savings emerged as the top gainer, surging 23.13% to close at ₱9.90, up by ₱1.86.

Dito CME was also among the top gainers. Overall, there were 103 gainers, 90 losers, and 48 unchanged stocks.

Notable gainers were Ayala Corporation, PNB, China Bank, Century Pacific Food, Citicore REIT, OceanaGold, GMA Network, First Gen, Semirara Mining, JG Summit, Robinsons Land, Philex Mining, Megaworld, MREIT, Megawide, The Keepers Holdings, and Cosco Capital.

BDO Unibank, Metrobank, Union Bank, Alternergy, SPNEC, Figaro Coffee, Fruitas, Monde Nissin, Cebu Air, and Philippine Airlines remained unchanged.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Security Bank, Meralco, Manila Water, Jollibee Foods, ACEN Corporation, Globe Telecom, Abacore, Shell Pilipinas, CEMEX Holdings, Apex Mining, Nickel Asia, Philodrill, LT Group, Converge ICT, Bloomberry Resorts, DoubleDragon, and ABS-CBN were among the stocks that saw red.