PSE Index Stifled To A Loss By Foreign Selling

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index plummeted Friday due to heavy foreign selling, dropping by a substantial 145.64 points or 2.09 percent to 6,822.32 points, driven by profit-taking and signals from the US Federal Reserve of a hold on interest rates amid continued inflation concerns.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, March 15, 2024

With US inflation still unchecked, analysts anticipate that interest rates will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future, a possibility previously disregarded, which resulted in a rally in the local stock market in previous weeks.

Five of the sub-indices posted significant declines, with only mining and oil experiencing a slight increase of 0.37 percent.

Property stocks took a hit, with reports of a rise in banks' receivables from housing loans causing a decline of 3.04 percent, while financials lost 2.06 percent, industrial stocks by 1.90 percent, holding firms by 2.04 percent, and services by 0.55 percent.

The top 10 most active stocks saw heavy transactions, with BDO Unibank being the most active, accounting for P2.37 billion in trades as it declined by 3.2 percent or P4.90 to P148, while Emperador followed with P2.12 billion.

ICTSI had trades of P1.35 billion, Bank of PI, P1.23 billion, SM Prime, P1.07 billion, and Security Bank by P1.057 billion as it collapsed by 3.4 percent or P1.10 to P67.45.

The market began on a strong note, albeit slightly lower than its Thursday close, but after the opening minutes, it immediately went into a tailspin due to heavy selling, dropping to a low of 6,790.96 points from its high of 6,946.70 points.

Net foreign selling amounted to P4.3 billion on foreign buys of P12 billion and foreign selling of P16 billion.

Total trades amounted to P20.08 billion, with 92 gainers, 113 losers, and 38 shares unchanged. Analysts now anticipate the market to move sideways, although there may be some recovery of losses by next week.

Among the gainers were Union Bank, First Gen, Axelum, San Miguel, Aboitiz Power, Petron, Century Food, Converge, Shakey's, DigiPlus, Premium Leisure, Belle, Alliance Global, Abacore Capital, and LT Group.

Unchanged stocks were Alternergy, Megawide, Top Frontier, and ABS-CBN.

The losers included Bank of the Philippines (PI), Metrobank, PNB, JG Summit, Basic Energy, Cebu Air, Meralco, Manila Water, Acen Corp, SMC Food and Beverage, Synergy Grid, Megaworld, Jollibee Foods, Monde Nissin, Ayala Land, SM Prime, AgriNurture, Synergy Grid, SM Investments, Robinsons Land, Globe Telecom, PLDT, Bloomberry, and Atlas Mining.

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