Despite a quiet final session—the PSEi slipped 0.16 percent to 6,528.79—it ended the year with a 1.22 percent gain, its first annual increase since 2019, according to AP Securities research head Alfred Benjamin R. Garcia.
“It’s a [small] win but a win nonetheless,” Garcia said on Friday.
Modest gain
“The year’s last trading session saw the PSEi post a slight dip from the prior day’s close but just enough to end 2024 with a modest gain of 1.22 percent year-on-year,” said Juan Paolo Colet, managing director at China Bank Capital.
“It was a bittersweet culmination to a volatile year marked by steep rallies and corrections as hope turned into caution,” he added..
Wild swings
Investors witnessed a dramatic turnaround this year, with the PSEi falling to a yearly low of 6,158.48 before a nearly 1,500-point rally to a high of 7,604.6 last Oct. 7.
Stocks then entered a correction phase that accelerated in the wake of Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the US presidential elections as investors weighed global growth risks resulting from his ‘America first’ economic policies.
Amid rising inflation risks, analysts are now projecting a more moderate pace of interest rate cuts by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
While investors enter the new year facing a host of risks, there’s always money to be made, especially for traders who are comfortable navigating turbulence.
“Just like 2023, this year again turned out to be fairly good for investors who were able to trade in and out of the major market waves,” Colet said
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
