Stocks sink to two-week low on economic woes

Philippine stocks dropped to a two-week low on Wednesday on increased selling pressure due to the peso’s weakness against the dollar and economic concerns.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell by 1.47% or 88.56 points to close at 5,905.84, while the broader all shares index decreased by 0.3% or 10.71 points to end at 3,464.79.

This was the PSEi’s worst finish in two weeks or since it closed at 5,813.71 on Nov. 19.

“The local bourse closed lower as profit taking and selling pressure emerged in today’s session. Market sentiment was subdued due to the depreciation of the peso against the dollar. Overall trading remained cautious as investors awaited clearer market signals,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

“The local market dropped with concerns on our country’s fiscal position and growth outlook fueling negative sentiment. Investors digested the latest national government outstanding debt data which posted an increase, partly because of the peso’s depreciation,” Philstocks Financial, Inc. Research Manager Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco said in a Viber message.

On Wednesday, the local unit fell by 39.9 centavos to close at PHP 58.92 versus the greenback from its PHP 58.521 finish on Tuesday, Bankers Association of the Philippines data showed.

This was also a near two-week trough for the peso as this was its weakest close since ending at P59.065 per dollar on Nov. 20.

The National Government’s (NG) outstanding debt rose by 0.61% to PHP 17.562 trillion in October from PHP 17.46 trillion at end-September, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed. This was 1.2% higher than the PHP 17.36-trillion projected debt level by end-2025.

Year on year, NG debt jumped by 9.62% from PHP 16.02 trillion as of October 2024, the Treasury said.

“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s downward revision of its Philippine economic growth forecasts for 2025 and 2026 to 4.7% and 5.1% respectively also weighed on the local bourse,” Mr. Tantiangco added.

Most sectoral indices ended lower on Wednesday. Services sank by 2.61% or 63.61 points to 2,372.18; financials decreased by 1.16% or 23.07 points to 1,956.54; industrials went down by 1.04% or 89.90 points to 8,531.96; holding firms fell by 0.89% or 42.49 points to 4,697.64; and property declined by 0.5% or 11.19 points to 2,191.29.

Meanwhile, mining and oil rose by 0.34% or 47.58 points to 13,898.99.

Decliners outnumbered advancers, 105 to 86, while 46 names closed unchanged.

“Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. was the day’s index leader, climbing 3.63% to PHP 16. DigiPlus Interactive Corp. performed the worst, dropping 5.46% to PHP 22.50,” Mr. Tantiangco said.

Value turnover went up to PHP 6.87 billion on Wednesday with 889.92 million shares traded from the PHP 5.49 billion with 1.13 billion issues exchanged on Tuesday.

Net foreign selling ballooned to PHP 1.25 billion from PHP 179.48 million. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno