After hitting a new record high, the benchmark index is expected to move sideways this week on growing tension overseas.
Analysts said the geopolitical tensions following the latest H-bomb threat from North Korea could provide a reason for investors to cash in on the market’s gains over the past few weeks.
“Sequels to pending geopolitical tension between US-NoKor, especially after the latter threatened to launch on an ‘unprecedented scale’ a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean is among the wildcard to watch out for this week,” online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia.com said.
North Korea last week threatened to detonate a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean amid warnings from the US and the international community.
Meanwhile, investors will also be looking for new catalysts that will further boost the market since the much-anticipated tax reform package is already priced.
Despite concerns overseas, analysts said the market’s recent upward momentum was providing a strong base year-end target of 8,500 for most brokerage companies.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index ended the week with a gain of 1.23 percent to 8,281.27, after the market posted new record high at 8,321.81 on continued optimism on the growth of the domestic economy.
Most of the sub-indices ended in green, led by holding firms which jumped 2.6 percent; financials which rose 0.67 percent; and property which climbed 0.66 percent. Services, meanwhile, dipped by 1 percent while mining and oil shed 0.94 percent.
Foreign investors were net buyer by P607 million.
Weekly top price gainers include Alliance Global Group Inc., which rose 15.5 percent to P16.84 after the company announced a P5-billion share buyback program; Filinvest Land Inc., which advanced 6.4 percent to P2.15; and Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc., which gained 5.9 percent to P13.84.
Weekly top price losers were Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc., which declined 19.8 percent to P16.04; Nickel Asia Corp., which dropped 6.9 percent to P7.19; and Lopez Holdings Corp., which dipped 5.7 percent to P6.71.
Wall Street stocks finished a choppy day little changed over the weekend as investors weighed how seriously to take increasingly heated rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un.
Trump, who threatened earlier this week to “totally destroy” North Korea, went after the country’s leader again Friday on Twitter calling him a “madman” who “will be tested like never before!”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 percent to end the week at 22,349.59.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 percent to 2,502.22, as did the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index which closed at 6,426.92. With AFP