PSE Index Declines On Foreign Selling

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index declined slightly today on the back of foreign selling but managed to maintain its milestone level in thin trading.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, December 27, 2024

The index closed at 6,528.79 points, down by 10.23 points or 0.16 percent.

Financials led the decline, with BDO Unibank dropping 1.17 percent to P144, dragging down Metrobank and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), which fell by 1.93 percent. This resulted in a 1.42 percent decrease in the Financials sub-index.

The Property sector also declined by 0.48 percent, with Ayala Land losing 1.13 percent and SM Prime down by 0.59 percent. Meanwhile, the Services sector posted a marginal loss of 0.21 percent.

On the upside, Holding Firms gained 0.52 percent, buoyed by market bellwether SM Investments, which rose by P17 to close at P899. The Mining and Oil sector surged by 3.98 percent, and Industrials advanced by 1.64 percent.

Value turnover reached P4.18 billion, about a third below the average, as trading activity focused on second and third-liner stocks, which posted notable gains.

Among the big gainers were FJ Prince, topping the leaderboard with a 45.35 percent rise, Axelum Resources, up by 32.8 percent, and Philtrust Bank, which gained 21.13 percent.

Net foreign selling amounted to P112 million, with foreign buying at P1.758 billion and foreign selling at P1.871 billion.

The session saw 138 gainers, 82 losers, and 44 unchanged stocks. Local investors accounted for half a billion pesos in trades, primarily concentrated on smaller-cap stocks.

Prominent gainers included Globe Telecom, Jollibee Foods, Semirara Mining, Security Bank, Union Bank, PNB, China Bank, Manila Water, PSE, ACEN Corp, Alternergy, Meralco, Synergy Grid, and AgriNurture.

Century Pacific Food, D&L Industrial, Emperador, Digiplus, DoubleDragon, Wilcon Depot, Cebu Air, PAL, Apex Mining, Bloomberry, PhilWeb, Lepanto A, OceanaGold, Oriental Petroleum, Megawide, Monde Nissin, Citicore REIT, and San Miguel Corporation also finished the day in the green.

Stocks that declined included SPNEC, Fruitas Holdings, Citicore REIT, First Gen, Alliance Global, Ayala Corp, Megaworld, PLDT, GMA-7, GT Capital, MREIT, Philex Mining, Philodrill, PXP Energy, JG Summit, and Universal Robina.

Unchanged stocks included Aboitiz Power, Petron, Shell Pilipinas, Ginebra San Miguel, LT Group, Haus Talk, ABS-CBN, Dito CME, and AREIT.