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Friday, March 29, 2024

Market looks for signals overseas

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Trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange is expected to take its cue from developments overseas following last week’s shortened trading week.

With the lack of developments in the local front, analysts said the index might continue to trade below the 8,000-point level on strong selling pressure.

Online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia.com, however, noted that foreign funds were expected to flow into the emerging markets like the Philippines due to a tamer inflation rate and possibilities of a US Fed rate cut.

“Given expectations of tamer inflation rate and possibilities for widely followed Fed rate to be trimmed at least for the first semester stretch, liquidity would find its way back into the equities and select corporate bond issuances,” 2TradeAsia.com said 

“Such has been manifested in daily net foreign buying, averaging P489 million from January to April 17, 2019 compared to foreign selling of P463 million for the same period in 2018,” it added.

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The Philippine Stock Exchange Index last week fell 0.6 percent to 7,835.15 while the broader All Shares Index slipped 0.5 percent to 4,836.68.

Except for holding firms and industrial which declined 2.21 percent and 1.123 percent, respectively, all other sub-indices posted week-on-week gains led by property, which rose 1.1 percent, mining and oil, which added 0.8 percent, financials which climbed 0.5 percent, and services which inched up 0.2 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the week by 608.5 million, while the average daily value traded stood at P6.8 billion from the previous week’s average of P7.38 billion.

Weekly top price gainers were Semirara Mining and Power Corp., which rose 4.1 percent to P24.30; PLDT Inc., which climbed 3.8 percent to P1,224; and Manila Water Co Inc., which increased 3 percent to P23.95.

Weekly top price losers, meanwhile, were Puregold Price Club Inc., which declined 6.9 percent to P44; Philex Mining Corp., which dropped 6.8 percent to P3.12; and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., which lost 6.7 percent to P55.

Tokyo and Shanghai stocks, meanwhile, closed higher Friday but trade lacked direction with several major markets closed for Easter holidays.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.50 percent, or 110.44 points, to 22,200.56, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.12 percent, or 1.96 points, to 1,616.93.

The market’s main gainer was Nintendo, which jumped more than 14 percent on reports its games and popular Switch console will soon be available in China.

Meanwhile, Chinese stocks managed to claw higher despite some early wobbles over concerns that China’s slowing economy could hit soon-to-be-released corporate earnings.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.63 percent, or 20.62 points, to close at 3,270.80.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, added 0.94 percent, or 16.51 points, to end the day at 1,778.81.

The Japanese market stayed comfortably in positive territory throughout the day, initially lifted by strong gains in overseas markets. With AFP

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