No holiday cheer for PSEi as recession woes go full Grinch

There was no Christmas cheer for the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on Friday as the benchmark index was weighed down by recession risks.

By the closing bell, the Philippine Stock Exchange index sank 0.55 percent, or 35.91 points, to 6,541.03 while the broader All Shares index shed 0.28 percent, or 9.79 points, to 3,432.47.

Some investors also cut their holdings ahead of the long Christmas weekend. The PSE announced there would be no trading on Monday (Dec. 26), which was declared a special non-working day by Malacañang.

PSE subsectors were mostly lower with holding firms (-0.95 percent) leading the way, followed by financials (-0.85 percent), property (-0.78 percent) and mining and oil (-0.38 percent).

Industrial and services rose 0.42 percent and 0.36 percent, respectively.

Index heavyweight PLDT returned some of the gains from its recent bounce. The telco remains susceptible to volatile trading after it disclosed a P48-billion budget bloat that remained undetected for several years.

The PSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission said they were also probing the company’s disclosures and trading activity.

Luis Gerardo Limlingan, head of sales at stock brokerage house Regina Capital Development, said some investors sold down their positions amid worries of “overtightening from central banks worldwide [which] could force the economy into a downturn.”

“Investors await more economic data due out Friday, including November’s personal consumption expenditure report and personal income [in the US],” Limlingan said in a note to investors on Friday.

A total of 1.9 billion shares valued at P3.14 billion changed hands while foreigners were net sellers to the tune of P248.14 million, data from the stock exchange showed.

PLDT was the top traded stock as it dropped 1.52 percent to P1,230 per share.

It was followed by SM Investments, down 1.3 percent to P914.