Trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange is expected to remain sluggish during this shortened trading week due to lack of strong catalysts to boost investor sentiments.
Analysts expect the market to move between 5,700 points and 6,000 points over the near term period as investors remain concerned about the steady stream of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“Improvement in investors sentiment hinges on earnings and further reopening of the economy,” BDO Unibank Inc. chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said.
Investors will be closely watching the release of the August inflation rate data as well Malacanang’s decision on whether to extend or further ease current quarantine restrictions in Metro Manila and key provinces in the country.
Financial markets will be closed today as the nation celebrates National Hero’s Day.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index PSEi last week declined 2 percent to 5,884.18, while the broader All Shares Index fell 1.1 percent to 3,534.58.
Four of the six sectoral indices posted week-on-week declines, led by property which dropped 6 percent, holding firms which lost 2.4 percent and financials and industrial which slipped 0.1 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
The mining and oil index advanced 5.7percent while services climbed 2.2 percent.
Foreign investors were net sellers for the week by P4.8 billion, while the average daily value traded reached P9 billion from the previous week’s average of P5.3 billion.
Weekly top price gainers were Eagle Cement Corp., which jumped 17.4 percent to P12.30; PLDT Inc., which advanced 8.1 percent to P1,479; and Manila Water Co. Inc., which rose 5.7 percent to P14.38.
Weekly top price losers were Ayala Land Inc., which fell 8.2 percent to P28.80; SM Prime Holdings Inc., which declined 5.8 percent to P29.20; and SM Investments Corp., which dropped 5.5 percent to P850.
Wall Street, meanwhile, flexed its muscles on Friday, with the Dow erasing its losses for the year and the S&P and Nasdaq again hitting records as investors shrugged off the ongoing coronavirus crisis, while markets elsewhere saw more moderate trading.
Much of the positive sentiment can be attributed to the Federal Reserve, which made clear that US interest rates will stay ultra-low as long as needed in a major policy shift announced Thursday.
That further buoyed stocks that had already climbed following their March Covid-19 downturn, after the Fed offered trillions of dollars in liquidity to keep markets functioning normally, with tech stocks doing particularly well as consumers spent more time at home.
“The technical picture improved thanks to the Dow’s breakout, and while the industrial average is still below its pre-pandemic high, all of the key trend indicators confirm the bull market,” Gorilla Trades strategist Ken Berman said.
European stocks closed slightly lower as London, Frankfurt and Paris all shed around half a percent, while the dollar weakened. With AFP