THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has denied social media claims that it has lost as much as P5 trillion in market capitalization (MCAP) since December 2024.
In a press release on Sunday, the PSE said a social media post on Oct. 10 “advanced the preposterous claim that the PSE has lost as much as P5 trillion in market capitalization since December 2024.” The post was “reposted the next day in a web-based tabloid,” it added.
“The Phisix market cap actually dropped by P5 trillion from Dec. 2024 to Oct. and by P3.6 trillion from Feb. to Oct. These numbers are in actual fact much larger than what was formerly cited. Although, if one looks on the index performance within the last 3 weeks the P1.7-trillion loss is probably not that farfetched,” the social media post said.
The PSE said that it tracks two forms of MCAP — domestic and total. Domestic MCAP covers Philippine corporations whose primary listing is on the PSE, while total MCAP includes each domestic MCAP and the market value of foreign corporations dually listed within the Philippines and abroad, akin to Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC), Sun Life Financial, Inc. (SLF), and Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DELM).
“Since only lower than 1% of the outstanding shares of MFC and SLF and lower than 5% of DELM are lodged for trading in PSE, PSE uses domestic MCAP data because the MCAP reference number because it more accurately captures the performance of the Philippine stock market,” the Exchange said.
PSE data showed that domestic MCAP stood at P14.29 trillion as of Oct. 10, down by P273.26 billion or 1.88% from P14.57 trillion as of Dec. 27, 2024. Total MCAP, which incorporates the foreign listings, fell by P886.84 billion or 4.43% through the same period.
“Deliberately comparing apples to oranges by comparing domestic MCAP to total MCAP is dishonest, if not malicious, and is clearly meant to impress investors to lose confidence within the Philippine capital market and destabilize the economy,” the PSE said.
“We trust that the information provided on this statement will put an end to fake news about trillions lost in PSE’s MCAP this 12 months,” it added. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno