PSE Index Haunted By Foreign Selling, Drops To Milestone Low

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index tumbled to a new low Thursday, closing at 7,142.96 points, down 137.28 points or 1.89%.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, October 31, 2024

The drop was primarily due to foreign investors selling their holdings, resulting in a net selling position exceeding PHP1 billion. The index opened at 7,252.11 points but declined steadily throughout the day.

ICTSI and BDO Unibank lost 4.58 percent and 4.50 percent, respectively, on trades of PHP758 million and PHP661 million.

ICTSI fell by PHP19 to PHP396, marking a new low, while BDO dropped by PHP7.20 to PHP 152.80. Market bellwether SM Investments also declined, losing 2.23 percent to close at PHP941, down by PHP21.50.

The index opened at 7,252.11, its highest point for the day, and trended downwards as the trading session progressed. Foreign selling reached PHP3.84 billion, compared to foreign buying of PHP2.539 billion, resulting in net foreign selling of PHP1.30 billion.

This marked the first instance of such a large net outflow following days of index gains with over 20 consecutive days of sustained foreign buying until the index began to decline last week.

Total turnover amounted to PHP5.42 billion, with 93 gainers, 88 losers, and 56 stocks unchanged.

Among the sectors, financials dropped by 2.17 percent, industrials by 0.81 percent, holding firms by 1.47 percent, and services by 2.43 percent, while mining and oil and property had modest increases of 0.44 percent and 0.06 percent, respectively.

Second- and third-tier stocks caught investors' attention, including Ever Gotesco, which surged 17.65 percent to PHP0.30 on trades of PHP3.34 million—a record high. Other notable gainers included DigiPlus, Prime Media, and SSI Group.

Additional gainers were SM Prime, GT Capital, Asia United, Union Bank, China Bank, First Gen, PSE, Manila Water, Petron, Semirara Mining, AgriNurture, Megawide, DoubleDragon, Alliance Global, GMA 7, ABS-CBN, Cebu Air, PAL, Wilcon Depot, Belle Corp., Puregold, Apex Mining, Atlas Mining, STI Holdings, Dito CME, Greenergy, Robinsons Retail, Nickel Asia, and Megaworld.

Notable losers included PLDT, Globe Telecom, Ayala Corp., D&L Industries, Monde Nissin, AREIT, OceanaGold, Metrobank, Bank of PI, PNB, EastWest Bank, Rockwell, DMCI Holdings, Boulevard Holdings, Converge, Philodrill, and Security Bank.

Stocks that remained unchanged included San Miguel, Alternergy, Figaro Coffee, SMC Food and Beverage, Abacore, MREIT, MRC Allied, Ginebra, and Bloomberry.