July 5: The Philippine Stock Market Review

PLDT once again cushioned the Philippine benchmark, the Phisix, which closed little changed, from the generally bearish market bias that pervaded today’s trading activities. Bolstered by foreign investors whom injected P 85 million worth of capital representing 73% of the company’s traded output, PLDT was the sole winner among the major heavyweights adding 2.09% to the company’s market cap. Rival Globe Telecoms, San Miguel B and Ayala Corp were the major decliners that weighed on the index while San Miguel A, banking heavyweights Metrobank and Bank of the Philippine Islands, and Property heavyweights SM Primeholdings and Ayala Land closed unchanged.

Domestic investors dominated today’s trading accounting for about 63% of today’s turnover with declining issues leading advancing issues by 41 to 29. Foreigners reported a net buying of P 65.492 million with a substantial majority of the inflows concentrated on PLDT. This suggests that local investors were on a selling mode probably due to profit taking from sectors that posted substantial gains.

Among the industry indices the PLDT driven Commercial and Industrial Index and the Sunlife and Manulife dominated Phi-All index were today’s gainers, while the extractive industries the oil and mining indices, as well as Banking and Finance and the Property Indices closed lower.

PLDT’s rise in New York last Friday, defied the bearish general sentiment in Wall Street, and practically the same mien was replicated in today’s trading activities.