Share prices are expected to move sideways during this shortened trading week as investors may opt to stay on the sidelines while waiting for the outcome of the presidential election.
Financial markets will be closed on Monday after President Rodrigo Duterte declared May 9, Election Day, a special non-working holiday.
Analysts said investors would be on wait-and-see mode, with uncertainties likely to linger until the proclamation of the winners of the national elections by the Commission on Elections.
Investors will also wait for the first quarter gross domestic product report scheduled for release on Thursday.
“The week’s close at 6,759.90 highlights near term risk is still tilted to the downside. Expect the market to range between 6,750-6,850 in the week ahead,” said BDO Unibank Inc. chief investments strategist Jonathan Ravelas.
Last week’s move of US Federal Reserve to hike interest rates by 50 basis point and the higher-than-expected local inflation rate in April also put more pressure on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to tighten monetary policy earlier than expected.
BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the Monetary Board would review its assessment of the inflation outlook and macroeconomic prospects after the release of the first-quarter GDP growth figures, along with evidence of possible second-round effects during the monetary policy meeting on May 19, 2022.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index added 0.4 percent last week to 6,759.90 points due mainly to bargain hunting. Foreign investors were net sellers for the week by P3.63 billion, while the average daily value traded stood at P5.5 billion, down from the previous week’s average of P6.2 billion.
Weekly top price gainers were Globe Telecom Inc., which rose 8.5 percent to P2,464; Universal Robina Corp., which climbed 6.3 percent to P109; and Petron Corp., which advanced 6.2 percent to P3.40.
Weekly top losers were Manila Water Co. Inc., which dropped 4.9 percent to P17.50; East West Banking Corp., which fell 4.8 percent to P7.67; and GMA Network Inc., which declined 4.6 percent to P12.70 apiece.
Meanwhile, global stocks mostly tumbled Friday to conclude a volatile week as investors fretted over inflation and worries about slowing growth despite a solid US jobs report.
The US economy added a better-than-expected 428,000 jobs in April, with the unemployment rate remaining at a low 3.6 percent, the Labor Department reported.
The data pointed to continued strong employment growth and contained hints that some inflationary pressures may be easing, with workers’ wages rising less than in March.
But investors remain anxious that rising prices and higher interest rates will hit consumers, slowing the economy’s expansion in the second half of 2022.
“There is a real concern about slowing growth and the possibility that the economy could tip into recession,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.
Wall Street stocks flirted with positive territory at times, but finished lower, with the S&P 500 dropping 0.6 percent.
European indices also slumped, with London losing 1.5 percent, Frankfurt 1.6 percent and Paris 1.7 percent. With AFP