THE PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE, Inc. (PSE) plans to introduce new products next year as well as new indices as part efforts to further increase investment options.

In a media gathering Wednesday night, PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Monzon said he is optimistic about the year ahead as the exchange has “at least two new products for next year, which is the REITs (real estate investment trusts) and short-selling (guidelines).”

“We have two or three more additional new products we want to launch… So we’re very excited.”

Also in the 2020 pipeline, Mr. Monzon said, are new market data products and new indices, particularly a “consumer index and all-return index” designed to provide a more accurate measure of index performance.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) targets to finalize revised rules on REITs, which will allow the public to invest in specific property projects, some time next year. The SEC said early this month it has been working with the Finance department on the revised rules which considered comments collected from stakeholders last month.

Also to be released next year are rules for short-selling, whereby an investor borrows a stock — betting its price will drop at some time — sells the stock in the open market and then buys the stock back at the lower price to return it to the lender.

“What’s our outlook for next year? Never mind the 9,000-9,200 (main index forecasts). But for the exchange, I think management is very bullish,” Mr. Monzon added, referring to outlooks of brokerages on the market’s performance next year.

BPI Securities Corp. previously said it is expecting the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSEi) to hit 9,000 next year, backed by the faster growth of the economy, especially the banking, property and consumer sectors. A report by Bloomberg also showed HSBC is projecting the PSEi to land 9,290 by end-2020.

“I think it was (HSBC) that forecasted 9,000-9,200… That’s how bullish we are for 2020,” PSE Chairman Jose T. Pardo told reporters in the same event, saying the exchange remains optimistic despite living in “the age of uncertainty with volatility as the only thing constant.”

The PSEi ended at 7,653.94 on Thursday, shedding 1.03% from Wednesday though still 2.78% stronger than its 7,466.02 end-2018 finish. — Denise A. Valdez

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