Stocks are expected to move sideways this week, as investors remain on the sidelines waiting for fresh leads on the economy, but analysts said the passage of the tax reform program later this year will likely push up the benchmark index to 8,200 points.
BDO Unibank Inc. chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index would likely continue to trade between 7,700 and 8,000 levels this week amid lack of fresh leads.
Analysts said investors would likely to take hints from President Rodrigo Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address before the end of the month.
First Metro Investments Corp. assistant vice president Cristina Ulang said the index would likely hit a high of 8,200 before the end of the year, on expectations the proposed tax reform program would be be passed by September.
Ulang said the market would also draw strength from robust corporate earnings this year as well as the planned infrastructure programs of the Duterte administration.
She said with inflation rate easing to 2.8 percent in June, the business environment remained conducive for growth.
The PSEi last week gained 0.6 percent to close at 7,889.33 on July 7, while the broader all-share index rose 0.9 percent to 4,735.12. All major sub indices ended in the green, led by industrial sector which rose 1.6 percent followed by property and financials which both advanced 1.2 percent.
Foreign investors were net sellers of P269.9 million last week, while average daily turnover declined to P6.09 billion from the previous week’s average of P8.3 billion.
Top gainers last week were SSI Group Inc. which jumped 14.1 percent to P4.69, East West Banking Corp. which rose 12.7 percent to P32 and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. which went up 7.6 percent to P10.22.
Heavy losers included developer 8990 Holdings Inc. which dropped 7.6 percent to P6.10, Concepcion Industrial Corp. which dipped 7.2 percent to P66 and San Miguel Pure Foods Co. Inc. which shed 2.4 percent to P309.
