PSE Index Dips As It Gets Spooked By Market Volatility

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) closed slightly lower Friday, ending at 7,022.85 points, down by 1.82 points or 0.03%.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, September 13, 2024

This minor decline reflects the ongoing market malaise, with the index briefly breaching the 7,000-point level four times intraday, only to fall back before the close. Despite this, foreign investors remained optimistic, contributing to net buying and helping the index maintain its position above the 7,000-point milestone.

The services sector was a key factor in the index's dip, with market favorite DigiPlus losing 14.08% or ₱2.96 to close at ₱17.04 on trades amounting to ₱1.13 billion, making it the most active stock of the day.

Another notable loser in the sector was ICTSI, which fell by 1.82% or ₱7.60 to ₱44, with trades amounting to ₱612 million, ranking second in activity.

These significant losses in the services sector led to a 1.42% decline in the sub-index, contributing to the overall PSEI drop. Other sectors also experienced slight declines. Financials were down by 0.25%, and the property sector fell by 0.36%.

However, the holding firms sector saw a rise, led by SM Investments, which gained ₱20 to close at ₱940, pushing the sector up by 1.19%.

The index had reached a high of 7,090.68 points during the session, up by 41 points from its opening.

Value turnover amounted to ₱5.4 billion, with foreign trades accounting for ₱4.55 billion. There was net foreign buying of ₱188 million, with ₱2.37 billion in buying and ₱2.18 billion in selling.

In total, there were 88 gainers, 96 losers, and 62 unchanged shares. Notable gainers included Bloomberry, Monde Nissin, Metrobank, Security Bank, GT Capital, Meralco, China Bank, Aboitiz Power, Citicore, SPNEC, D&L Industries, Robinsons Retail, Apex Mining, and Atlas Mining.

Also up were Emperador, SMC Food and Beverage, Roxas and Co., Ayala Corp., Universal Robina, Megaworld, LT Group, Cosco Capital, Globe Telecom, PLDT, Nickel Asia, OceanaGold, Aboitiz Equity, Alliance Global, and Haus Talk.

Meanwhile, notable losers were Ayala Land, BDO Unibank, ACEN Corp, Alternergy, First Gen, Manila Water, Shell Pilipinas, Axelum, Vitarich, Ginebra, ABS-CBN, GMA-7, Jollibee Foods, Greenergy, JG Summit, DoubleDragon, Shang Properties, Converge, Dito CME, PAL, STI Holdings, Puregold, Wilcon Depot, and AbaCore.

Unchanged stocks included PNB, Union Bank, AgriNurture, Megawide, Filinvest Land, MREIT, PhilWeb, and Philex Mining.