Stocks are expected to move sideways this week, with an upward momentum as investors await President Rodrigo Duterte’s State-of-the-Nation Address where he will unveil his strategy to sustain economic growth.
“All eyes are on President Duterte’s State-of-the-Nation Address as the president is expected to address critical issues in the Philippines and offer plans of action. We also expect the start of first half of 2017 earnings release in the coming weeks to dictate the movement of the market,” RCBC Securities analyst Jeffrey Lucero said.
BDO Nomura, the joint venture company between BDO Unibank and Nomura Holdings of Japan that offers an online stock trading service, sees the index hitting the 8,500-point level over the next 12 months as it expects the economy to sustain above-trend growth.
BDO Nomura Securities Inc. head of research Dante Tinga Jr. said the prospects for the Philippine stock market would even get better with the passage of the tax reform program and the infrastructure rollout.
“Implementation of government plans for tax reform and infrastructure rollout are potential ‘game changers’. The market is closely tracking progress on both,” Tinga said.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped 1.3 percent last week to close at 7,989.73, while the broader all-share index rose 0.8 percent to 4,771.64.
Except for the services index which dipped 0.9 percent, all major counters ended in the green, led by property which advanced 2.8 percent, mining and oil which rose 2.1 percent and industrial which climbed 1.1 percent.
Foreign investors turned into net buyers last week by P568 million, as total overseas buying hit P18.16 billion while overseas selling amounted to P17.59 billion.
Top gainers last week were Wilcon Depot Inc. which surged 7.3 percent to P8.85, SM Prime Holdings Inc. which rose 4.9 percent to P34.80 and Semirara Mining and Power Corp. which advanced 4.8 percent to P168.
Heavy losers included Global Estate Resorts Inc. which declined 8.9 percent to P1.54, Filinvest Land Inc. which dropped 6.7 percent to P1.80 and Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. which shed 5.8 percent to P4.04.