PSE Index Up Slightly In Thin Holiday Trading Volume

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) appeared subdued by the holiday break, posting a minimal gain amid lower-than-average trading volume.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, December 26, 2024

The index closed at 6,539.02 points, up by 4.11 points or 0.06 percent.

The modest gain was achieved in the final minutes of trading, driven by a flurry of buy orders that lifted industrial, mining and oil, and property sectors, which had earlier displayed declines.

The index had dipped as low as 6,489.31 points during the session. Financials was the only sector showing a positive trend prior to the late recovery. Net foreign buying reached P73 million, with foreign selling amounting to P936 million against foreign buying of P1.009 billion.

Total value turnover was P2.789 billion. ICTSI emerged as the most actively traded stock with transactions worth P208 million, but it declined by P8 to close at P390.

SM Investments followed, recording P200 million in trades, as its price dropped by P18 to P882, a two percent decrease.

Sector performance was mixed. Financials rose by 0.40 percent, industrial by 0.08 percent, mining and oil by 0.05 percent, and property by 0.87 percent. On the other hand, services fell by 0.43 percent, while holding firms declined by 0.40 percent.

Investors shifted interest to smaller stocks, resulting in 122 gainers, more than double the 57 losers.

Fifty-two stocks remained unchanged, including Citicore RE, Shell Pilipinas, SPNEC, Atlas Mining, Philex Mining, Century Food, Figaro Coffee, LT Group, RL Commercial REIT, and Belle Corp.

Among the gainers were notable names such as Ayala Land, SM Prime, BDO Unibank, GT Capital, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Semirara Mining, Primex, PNB, Union Bank, Metrobank, Aboitiz Power, and First Gen.

Manila Water, Emperador, Petron, Ginebra San Miguel, D&L Industries, Monde Nissin, Victorias Milling, Vitarich, CEMEX Holdings, Megawide, JG Summit, Prime Media, Cosco Capital, Century Properties, Megaworld, Puregold, OceanaGold, MacroAsia, Bloomberry, PhilSeven, ABS-CBN, PLDT, Globe Telecom, and GMA Network also saw gains.

Meanwhile, the losers included Security Bank, China Bank, the PSE itself, ACEN Corp, Shakey’s Pizza, Synergy Grid, Abacore, Converge, DoubleDragon, Nickel Asia, MREIT, Meralco, Jollibee Foods, Axelum, Dito CME, and DigiPlus.