Trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange is expected to remain bearish this week as the trade war concerns triggered by US President Donald Trump’s America First agenda continue to weigh on investor sentiment.
Analysts said the index, after dropping to an intra-week low at 8,156.19 last week, could fall toward the 8,000/8,100 level this week. Worries about interest rates and expectations of higher inflation could also force investors to stay on the sidelines and recalibrate their portfolios.
“With lots of volatility we put our support to 8,100 and resistance for 8,300,” said Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan.
Limlingan said the PSEi approached technical correction after market closed at 8,190 on Thursday, down 9.58 percent from the recent high of 9,058.
But despite the market’s current downward trend, analysts said the Philippine growth story remained intact. They consider the current market correction a good opportunity to seize on weakness to position gradually.
The PSEi ended the week down 1.6 percent to 8,238.15 while the broader All Shares Index declined 1.39 percent to 5,982.50 on increasing concerns on a possible global trade war.
Except for the industrial index which rose 1.28 percent, all other sub-indices were in red, led by mining and oil which (-2.6 percent), holding firms (-2.07 percent), financials (-1.78 percent), property (-162 percent) and services (-1.49 percent).
Foreign selling accelerated at a net of P6.5 billion.
The average daily value traded increased to P9.7 billion from the previous week’s average of P7.1 billion.
Weekly top price gainers were Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., which gained 9.1 percent to P59.90; Jollibee Foods Corp., which advanced 4.6 percent to P305.40, and Robinsons Land Corp. B, which gained 4.6 percent to P20.70.
Weekly top price losers include Integrated Microelectronics Inc., which dropped 11 percent to P17.52; Ginebra San Miguel Inc., which declined 10.3 percent to P25.10; and Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., which dipped 10.1 percent to P84.50 per share.