Stocks are expected to sustain the positive trend this week, as investors focus on developments overseas and the first-quarter earnings of listed companies.
Philstocks Inc. analyst Justino Calaycay said the outlook for the market in this shortened trading week remained positive, based on net foreign inflows and improvement in the market’s week-on-week breadth. There is no trading on May 1 in observance of Labor Day.
“The PSEi [Philippine Stock Exchange index] has already shown its ability to hit levels above 7,700 – it just needs more evidence to validate the growing optimism,” Calaycay said.
Abacus vice president for research Raymond Niel Franco said he expected the benchmark to end the year at 7,500-point level as average earnings growth of listed companies were expected to go up by high single digit.
“There is momentum and a lot of optimism in the market right now. I will not be surprised if the market will go higher. But the market is fairly valued at current levels, so it would be better for investors to wait for better prices before coming into the market,” Franco said.
The PSEi rose 1.1 percent last week to close at 7,661.01 on April 29, while the broader all-share index gained 1 percent to 4,579.20.
The PSEi was also up 12 percent in the first four months.
All sectoral indices ended in the green last week, led by services which climbed 2.4 percent, holding firms which advanced 1.6 percent and financials which rose 0.9 percent.
Foreign investors were net buyers by P2.07 billion last week. In the first four months, foreign investors were still net sellers by nearly P8 billion.
Top gainers last week were Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. which jumped 13.4 percent P54.45, Philippine National Bank which went up 8.3 percent to P65.20 and Belle Corp. which climbed 5.9 percent to P4.10.
Heavy losers included Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. which dropped 9.6 percent to P1.41, Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. which declined 7.2 percent to P7.34 and Max’s Group Inc. which retreated 4.3 percent to P23.25.