Market mirrors slide on Wall Street

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock market finished slightly lower yesterday as the decline in Wall Street spoiled recent positive developments in the country.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) opened the week in the red, inching down by 0.03 percent or 2.07 points to 6,095.97.

The All Shares index was also in negative territory, slipping by 0.14 percent or 5.28 points to 3,655.

“The PSEi slightly corrected lower after the latest declines in the US stock markets, their biggest daily declines so far in 2025,” RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort said.

Ricafort said that the drop in US stocks last Friday offset recent positive developments, such as the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas cut on banks’ reserve requirement ratio effective March 28 and the Philippines’ exit from the Financial Action Task Force gray list.

Local sectors were a mixed bag, with financials and holding firms on the winning end, increasing by 0.86 percent and 0.40 percent, respectively.

The industrial and services indexes, meanwhile, lost the most, shedding 0.87 percent each.

Net value turnover stood at P4.28 billion. Foreigners were net sellers with net outflows at P632.57 million.

Market breadth was negative as decliners pummeled advancers, 111 to 73, while 54 issues were unchanged.

Property giant Ayala Land was yesterday’s most actively traded company, decreasing by 0.87 percent to P22.90 per share, followed by ICTSI which fell by 1.33 percent to P340.40.