Fed, Middle East woes weigh equities down

MANILA  -The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) saw its lowest close in more than a month as investors weighed external risks, including the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

By the closing bell on Friday, the PSEi fell 1.23 percent, or 76.26 points, to 6,142.90 while the broader All Shares index shed 1.08 percent, or 36.37 points, to 3,329.42.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said local stocks struggled “in line with the latest overnight declines in the US stock markets by 1-1.6 percent after hawkish signals from some [US Federal Reserve] officials”.

A total of 627.1 million shares valued at P4 billion changed hands while foreigners were net sellers to the tune of P704.73 million, data from the stock exchange showed.

PSE subsectors ended the week in the red, with mining and oil plunging 6.05 percent, followed by property (-2.03 percent) and financials (-1.24 percent). BDO Unibank Inc. was the most actively traded stock as it slipped 1.45 percent to P129.40.

It was followed by Jollibee Foods Corp., down 2.54 percent to P215.20; SM Prime Holdings Inc., down 2.23 percent to P30.70; Bank of the Philippine Islands, down 1.40 percent to P105.30; and Universal Robina Corp., down 0.44 percent to P113.20 per share. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was down 1.33 percent to P207.20; Semirara Mining and Power Corp., down 11.40 percent to P31.10; Converge ICT Solutions Inc., down 3.65 percent to P9.25; Ayala Land Inc., down 2.88 percent to P28.65; and SM Investments Corp., down 0.37 percent to P817 per share.

Overall, there were 136 losers against 44 advancers ,while 56 companies closed unchanged, data from the stock exchange showed.