PSEi revamp stirs sluggish bourse

The latest rebalancing of the 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dominated stock market trades on Friday as investors scrambled to align their portfolios to the closely tracked basket of local blue chips.

Investors racked up shares of AC Energy and Converge ahead of their debut into the PSEi on Aug. 16, while selling down DMCI and Emperador, the two companies that will exit the main index.

Dragged by the downturn of DMCI and Emperador, the local stock barometer lost 7.36 points or 0.11 percent to close on Friday at 6,539.91.

For the week, the PSEi gained a total of 269.68 points or 4.3 percent as investors had been picking up oversold stocks through most days of the week. For now, the market had turned numb to Metro Manila’s return to enhanced community quarantine, which took effect on Friday.

DMCI fell by 6.07 percent, while Emperador lost 8.85 percent on Friday as investors shifted funds to the upcoming PSEi members.

Renewable energy firm AC Energy (ACEN), the most actively traded company, gained 4.69 percent. Fast-growing fiber internet provider Converge, the second most actively traded company, rallied by 11.51 percent.

With Friday’s run-up, ACEN and Converge ended the week with a respective market capitalization of P334 billion and P179.9 billion.

“Philippine shares juggled for most of the trading session as fund managers began positioning ahead of the [PSEi] rebalancing which would take effect by the end of next week,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

By counter, the industrial, holding firm, mining/oil and property counters all slipped on Friday.

—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla