The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) is adding two new indices in its list for investors’ guidance – PSE MidCap index and PSE Dividend Yield index.
Yesterday, share prices ended higher on last-minute buying while the peso closed to its strongest in three weeks.
The PSE MidCap index is designed to showcase the mid-sized companies. The PSE Dividend Yield index highlights the companies that consistently give high-yielding dividends.
Both indices have 20 constituents and the index members as of the February 2022 recomposition stemmed from a review of companies last year.
“The base date and base level for both indices is Dec. 30, 2010 at 1,000,” the PSE said.
At its launch yesterday, the PSE MidCap Index and the PSE Dividend Yield Index will have 1,195.10 and 1,708.56 as their starting levels, respectively, representing an increase of 19.5 percent and 70.9 percent from their base levels, based on the 11-year backtesting conducted by the PSE.
The subsequent levels will be computed at the end of every trading day.
“Ever since, we only have the main composite, All Shares and sectoral indices in the PSE. These thematic indices are long overdue and we are pleased to finally make available the first two sets of new indices,” said Ramon Monzon, PSE president.
“In developing these indices, we consulted with market participants to ensure that the selection criteria and methodology are acceptable to those who want to track or benchmark on the new indices,” he added.
The companies included in the maiden PSE Mid Cap index are AREIT Inc., Bloomberry Resorts Corp., Cebu Air Inc., Century Pacific Food Inc., Cosco Capital Inc., DoubleDragon Corp., DMCI Holdings Inc., D&L Industries Inc., Filinvest Land Inc., GMA Network Inc., AllHome Corp., Manila Water Company Inc., Nickel Asia Corp., Petron Corp., Philippine National Bank, Philex Mining Corp., Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., Semirara Mining and Power Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc.
The companies included in the PSE Dividend Yield index are Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Aboitiz Power Corp., AREIT Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, DMCI Holdings Inc., D&L Industries Inc., Globe Telecom Inc., GMA Network Inc., International Container Terminal Services Inc., LT Group Inc., Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company, Manila Electric Company, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Nickel Asia Corp., Robinsons Land Corp., Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., Semirara Mining and Power Corp., Security Bank Corp., PLDT Inc., and Universal Robina Corp.
Monzon said the PSE Dividend Yield index “will create a proper benchmark for existing dividend-based mutual funds and UITFs.”
“Currently, the performance of these funds are compared with the PSEi because the stock market does not have a dividend index to match it to,” he said.
“With the launch of these two indices, we hope to see more funds created that will track these new benchmarks. This will also provide fund managers and investors the opportunity to diversify their portfolio,” he added.
At the stock market, the index was up 9.52 points to 7,134.36, a 0.13 percent hike.
The broader all shares index was up 7.46 points to 3,782.05, a 0.2 percent hike.
Market breadth was negative with losers edging gainers 94 to 77 with 55 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P5.19 billion.
The peso closed at 52.13 to the dollar, up from 52.15 on Friday. It opened at 52.18, hitting a high of 52.08 and a low of 52.30.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial and Banking Corp. , said the peso ended stronger against the dollar for the fourth straight trading day, its strongest in more than three weeks since closing at 51.74 on March 4, 2022.
Ricafort said the uptick of the peso was on the backdrop of an overnight drop by more than $4 in global oil prices below $110 per barrel for the Nymex crude oil.
Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital and Development Corp., said the market was bought up “ahead of the quarter end and a series of key economic data releases while the street keeps a watchful eye on the Fed’s planned interest rate hikes.”
Most actively traded Converge ICT Solutions Inc. was steady at P28.50. Solar Power Nueva Ecija Corp. was up P0.02 to P2.02. SM Investments Corp. was up P3 to P900.Universal Robina Corp. was up P1.20 to P118.20. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was down P6 to P218. Ayala Corp. was down P11.50 to P806. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was down P0.20 to P37.50. Semirara Mining ang Power Corp. was up P0.30 to P32. Ayala Land Inc. was steady at P36. BDO Unibank Inc. was down P0.90 to P131.50.
