Local shares rose slightly on Tuesday, March 3, as bargain hunters stepped in following a two-day retreat, though lingering geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and weak breadth of losers capped the recovery.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 18.55 points, or 0.29 percent, to finish at 6,445.38. Despite the headline gain, the broader market remained under pressure as investors weighed the potential for escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.

The recovery was largely lopsided, driven almost entirely by the surge in the services sector, which jumped 3.03 percent and acted as the primary engine for the index.

Trading activity remained robust even as turnover dipped from the previous session’s highs. Investors exchanged 3.15 billion shares valued at ₱8.92 billion. However, the internal dynamics of the market painted a more cautious picture than the main index suggested.

Losers beat gainers 117 to 83, while 60 issues remained unchanged, indicating that the rally lacked broad-based participation across the various industries.

Japhet Tantiangco, research manager at Philstocks Financial, noted that the day’s movement was characterized by opportunistic buying after a particularly sharp selloff in the preceding session.

He observed that the local market found a floor as investors sought value in oversold blue chips, supported significantly by international participants. Foreigners were net buyers during the session, with net inflows reaching ₱1.57 billion, providing the necessary liquidity to sustain the index’s modest advance.

DigiPlus Interactive Corp. led the gains among index heavyweights, fueling the services sector’s outperformance. The stock has been a frequent outlier in recent sessions, drawing interest amid a shifting regulatory and earnings landscape for gaming and digital services.

External factors also provided a mild tailwind. Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the local bounce tracked a late-session recovery on Wall Street, where US equities managed to erase earlier losses to finish marginally higher.

On the domestic front, sentiment was further bolstered by fiscal data showing a narrower budget deficit for December 2026. The improvement in the budget deficit-to-GDP ratio provided some fundamental reassurance to investors concerned about the country’s long-term debt trajectory amidst high global interest rates.