PSEi down at halftime; Peso steady

The PSEi traded in negative territory during the morning session, slipping 0.58% or 37.40 points to 6,433.85 as of 11:56 AM. 

The decline came as investors continued to engage in profit-taking following the market’s recent rally while remaining cautious amid mixed global cues. 

Market breadth was negative for the first half of the trading day with decliners outpacing advancers, 97 to 79, while 64 issues were unchanged. Total value turnover reached P3.77 billion across 38,875 trades with total volume at 358.95 million shares.

Sectoral performance was largely mixed with Services and Mining & Oil posting the steepest losses, dropping 2.07% and 2.35%, respectively. Industrials also declined by 0.25%, while Financials were nearly flat, shedding 0.01%. Holding Firms and Property managed modest gains, rising 0.17% and 0.002%, respectively.

Among actively traded stocks, International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICT) led in value turnover but declined 2.97% to P668.50. 

Other heavily traded names were BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO), down 0.93% to P138.20; Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), falling 2.50% to P202.80; and Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), easing 1.64% to P20.95. 

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (MBT) bucked the broader weakness, gaining 1.23% to P73.90. The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) also increased by 0.26% to P117.50 per share after its official launch of the BPI SIGLA Bonds this morning. 

Meanwhile, the Philippine peso traded at P58.11 per US dollar, more or less unchanged from yesterday’s close. The local currency, however, reached an intraday low of P57.95, a psychological level investors in both the foreign exchange and local bourse are anticipating.

The local currency’s appreciation for Friday morning was supported by improved foreign exchange inflows and tempered US dollar demand, reflecting sustained optimism toward the domestic economic outlook and easing external pressure from global interest rate expectations.