Ayala Land shares rise on MSCI rebalancing, foreign inflows

AYALA LAND, INC.’S (ALI) share price rose last week after the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) rebalancing, a huge volume of net foreign inflows, and anticipation of interest rate cuts.

The property developer was the third most actively traded issue last week, with a total of 96.98 million shares worth P2.76 billion changing hands from Aug. 26 to 29, data from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed.

At the end of the trading week, Ayala Land closed at P28 per share, up 3.3% from the previous Friday’s close of P27.10. The uptick was a reversal compared with the property sector, which slipped by 0.04%, and the benchmark PSE index (PSEi), which contracted by 2% week on week.

Year to date, the stock rose by 6.9%, reflecting the property sector’s 2.8% growth but contrasting with the PSEi’s 5.7% decline.

“The strong move on Ayala Land’s stock price this week was primarily driven by the anticipation of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ interest rate cuts, which could boost the property sector. Also, the recent MSCI rebalancing supported the strong price action on Ayala Land as it has a huge volume of net foreign inflows,” said Jash Matthew M. Baylon, an equity analyst at The First Resources Management and Securities Corp., in a Viber message.

Ayala Land was among those included in the top ten constituents in the MSCI rebalancing. As of Aug. 31, the company had an index weight of 7.27%, with a market capitalization of P409.53 billion.

The index is designed to measure the performance of the large- and mid-cap segments of the Philippine market. Some fund managers track the MSCI index composition to realign their portfolios.

Ayala Land saw net foreign buying in three out of four trading sessions last week, with inflows amounting to P797.94 million from Aug. 26 to 29, according to PSE market data.

Trading days were cut to four due to the National Heroes Day holiday on Aug. 25.

Mr. Baylon also said that Ayala Land’s acquisition agreement for ABS-CBN’s property in Quezon City affected Ayala Land’s stock, as the formalization of the deal was seen as positive sentiment for the market.

“The move was also considered to be a strategic acquisition, as the firm could use it for future developments,” said Mr. Baylon.

Last week, ABS-CBN Corp. said it signed the deeds of absolute sale covering part of its Quezon City property with Ayala Land, formalizing a P6.24-billion deal. The sale covers up to 30,000 square meters, or 68.14% of ABS-CBN’s 44,027.30-square-meter property.

Meanwhile, the Monetary Board reduced the target reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5% from 5.25%, as expected by 20 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week. This was also the lowest level in nearly three years, or since November 2022.

Latest audited financial statements showed ALI’s consolidated attributable net income reached P14.17 billion in the first half of 2025, 7.9% higher than the P13.13 billion recorded in the same period last year, driven by the company’s diversified portfolio. Meanwhile, consolidated revenue fell by 1.4% to P83.07 billion from P84.27 billion.

“We forecast ALI’s net income to grow to P31.43 billion for the full year 2025 mainly driven by its robust mall segments and improved leasing revenues,” Mr. Baylon said.

For this week, Mr. Baylon placed Ayala Land’s support levels at P28 per share, while its resistance levels are at P30 per share. — Lourdes O. Pilar