Share prices closed higher on Wednesday, ending a seven-day fall as bargain hunters returned and drove the benchmark index back to the 6,000-point level.
The PSEi rebounded by 1.22 percent, or 72.57 points, to settle at 6,026.03.
The broader All Shares rose 0.93 percent, or 33.83 points, to 3,654.62. Gainers outnumbered losers 99 to 87, with 50 issues unchanged. Trade value reached P6.8 billion on 75,429 trades involving 2.46 billion shares.
“Investors seized the opportunity to accumulate stocks at cheaper levels after the sharp declines over the past week,” Regina Capital and Development Corp Managing Director Luis Limlingan said.
Foreign funds were net sellers of P1.03 billion worth of shares, with buying at P3.39 billion and selling at P4.42 billion.
Analysts downplayed external risks such as the looming shutdown of the US federal government and disappointing local manufacturing data.
“I don’t think it will have a material impact on our stock market,” Juan Paolo Colet, managing director at ChinaBank Capital Corp. said, noting the PSEi rallied during the last major US government shutdown in 2018–2019.
The recently reported fall in S&P Global Philippines Manufacturing PMI to 49.9 for September from 50.8 in August, is seen signaling a marginal contraction as weaker sales led manufacturers to trim production.
Still, optimism was underpinned by the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) latest forecast that the Philippine economy will grow by 5.7 percent in 2026, only slightly below its earlier 5.8 percent estimate, citing strong domestic demand and accommodative monetary policy.
Aniceto Pangan, trader at Diversified Securities Inc., said investors also welcomed ADB’s softer inflation outlook of 1.8 percent, down from its previous 2.2 percent forecast. “With this ADB report, investors switch to positive mode in the country’s growth path going forward,” he said.
Despite the rebound, analysts cautioned that the market “still needs stronger catalysts for a sustainable reversal of the prevailing downtrend.”
