THE PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE index (PSEi) edged up but stopped short of the 7,400 mark amid last-minute bargain hunting after spending much of Friday in red territory.
PSEi gained 11.74 or 0.15% to close 7,399.61 — relatively flat from the week-ago 7,399.18 finish — while the all-shares index added 4.26 points or a nearly flat 0.09 to end at 4,466.7. PSEi’s lowest point of 7,327.35 on Friday was the deepest trough since July 12’s 7,307.60 low.
Four of the six sectoral indices ended with gains, even as trading thinned and overseas investors remained bearish and extended net sales.
Noting that “[l]ocal shares traded quietly once more”, Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan in a mobile phone message on Friday that “[v]alue turnover remained weak once more ahead of earnings season and the SONA (President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s State of the Nation Address) on Monday”.
Jervin S. De Celis, equities trader at Timson Securities, Inc., noted separately that “[t]he PSEi closed in positive territory after investors rushed to buy blue chips at bargain prices before market closed.”
For RCBC Securities, Inc., “[t]he Philippine market took its cue from Wall Street’s decline last night and traded in negative territory for the majority of the
session until market-on-close orders pushed the PSEi to close 11.74 points or 0.16% higher at 7,399.61.”
Reuters reported that Wall Street dropped across the board on Thursday amid disappointing earnings and worries that the European Union would impose retaliatory tariffs on goods from the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.53% to 25,064.50, the S&P 500 fell by 0.40% to 2,804.49 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 0.37% to 7,825.30.
Asian fortunes were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Index dropping 0.29% and 0.26%, respectively, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, the Shanghai SE Composite Index and the blue-chip Shanghai-Shenzhen CSI 300 going up by 0.76%, 2.04% and 1.88%, respectively.
Back home, four sectoral indices increased by the end of trading: property by 34.64 points or 0.95% to 3,657.02, mining & oil by 30.76 points or 0.31% to 9,696.75, financials by 5.75 points or 0.31% to 1,832.23 and industrials by 5.64 points or 0.05% to 10,533.84.
In contrast, holding firms dropped 26.52 points or 0.36% to end 7,171.41, while services gave up 2.97 points or 0.21% to 1,448.19.
Stocks that gained narrowly outnumbered those that lost 96 to 93, while 51 others were flat.
RCBC Securities’ Stock Market Weekend Recap, prepared by research analyst John Paolo D. Ayson, and Timson Securities’ Mr. De Celis noted that “[i]ndex heavyweights lifted the PSEi”, particularly citing BDO Unibank, Inc. (up 1.85% to P132 apiece); SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (up 1.23% to P37) and Ayala Land, Inc. (up 1.04% to P38.90 each) that added “a combined 24.7 points”.
Friday’s list of 20 most active stocks showed 11 gained, including Transpacific Broadband Group Int’l. Inc. (up 5.56% to P0.57 apiece); Megawide Construction Corp. (4.65% to P18); GT Capital Holdings, Inc. (2.26% to P950); Aboitiz Power Corp. (2.06% to P37.15), and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (0.72% to P70 each).
The same list showed eight that lost, including Now Corp. (down 3.68% to P9.15 apiece); Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (3.79% to P50.80); Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (3.15% to P4.30) and Security Bank Corp. (2.36% to P206.60 each).
Trading thinned to 568.583 million shares worth P3.429 billion from Thursday’s 672.724 million worth P3.687 billion.
Net foreign selling persisted for a second straight day at P445.204 million — though down by a third from Thursday’s P580.187 million — and totaled some P1.6 billion for the week. — with quotes from J. C. Lim

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