PSEi may lag behind regional peers in 2024

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine stock market was predominantly red at the close of 2023, with the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) sliding 116 points or 1.8 percent year-on-year.

Week-on-week, the PSEi slid by 50 points or 0.78 percent to settle at 6,450.04.

Average market turnover likewise declined by 30.59 percent to P3.87 billion week-on-week.

For the year, daily average value turnover was P6.09 billion, down by 16.5 percent from 2022’s P7.30 billion average, data from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed.

In terms of foreign selling, the market registered P53.67 billion worth of net foreign selling last year compared to the P68.05 billion net foreign selling in 2022.

“The PSEi officially bids farewell to 2023 at just under the 6,500 level. By New Year, it will trade at 12 to 13 times forward earnings and its underperformance relative to regional peers (down 15 times to 16 times) only underscore the gap in value potential,” 2TradeAsia, in its yearend report, said.

It said 2023 has been a year of financial aberrations: record-level rate increases, global bank crises, (arguably) the best year of bonds, crypto resurgence, renaissance of tech stocks, major disruption in AI, among others.

“2024 is looking to be more lenient, given current data – hold fast to the ropes and stay true to the court.,” it said.

2TradeAsia sees immediate support at 6,400 with resistance at 6,600.

For 2023, total capital raised from primary and secondary shares in the PSE amounted to P140.95 billion, 27.8 percent higher than the P110.29 billion raised in the previous year, data from the PSE showed.

The local bourse’s market capitalization, meanwhile, registered a 1.10-percent increase to settle at P16.74 trillion last year from P16.56 trillion in 2022.