Stocks close year in negative territory

MANILA, Philippines — The local stock market ended 2025 on a sour note, weighed down by a lack of positive catalysts.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index slipped by 0.21 percent or 12.72 points to close the final trading day of the year at 6,052.92.

The broader All Shares index, however, inched up by 0.25 percent or 8.58 points to settle at 3,473.24.

“The benchmark index ended the year on a negative note amid holiday-thinned trading, with the last session for 2025 dropping to 6052.92 for a year-to-date loss of 7.29 percent,” China Bank Capital Corp. managing director Juan Paolo Colet said.

“This caps the most challenging trading year since the pandemic crash of 2020 as the index underperformed most analysts’ initial base case targets and also relative to other regional stock markets,” he said.

Colet said foreign investors were net sellers by around P51 billion for the year due to a mix of trade, economic and governance concerns.

Most sectors were in the red during yesterday’s session, with mining and oil posting the biggest drop at 1.17 percent.

Holding firms, meanwhile, gained by 1.09 percent and industrial advanced by 0.44 percent.

Trading was thin, with a total turnover value of P4.29 billion.

Advancers outperformed decliners, 139 to 75, while 56 issues remained unchanged.

GT Capital was the top-traded stock, climbing by 2.06 percent to P595 per share, followed by BDO and ICTSI, which declined by 0.30 percent and 0.53 percent, respectively, to P134.60 and P567.