The stock market surged Friday on rosy prospects for the economy, with the Philippine Stock Exchange Index surging past the 9,000-point mark for the first time.
The PSEi rose 42.03 points, or 0.5 percent, to an all-time high of 9,041.20 on a value turnover of P7.8 billion. Gainers beat losers, 110 to 97, with 52 issues unchanged.
Regina Capital Development Corp. managing director Luis Limlingan said the market ended the week on a positive note ahead of next week’s window dressing and in step with the performance of the regional market.
The PSEi gained 1.41 percent week-on-week, marking the market’s eight straight weekly gain after the government reported a 6.7-percent economic growth rate for the full year of 2017.
“The investors remain bullish on the economy as recent data highlights the underlying strength of the economy,” BDO Unibank Inc. chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said.
“Chartwise, the week’s close at 9,041.20 highlights the market still has some gas to try the 9,100/9,350 levels. Immediate support and resistance is seen at 8,600 and 9,100 levels, respectively,” Ravelas added.
But analysts expect the market to correct as early as February as valuations have become pricey compared with other markets.
April Lynn Lee-Tan, head of research at COL Financial Group Inc., said the market level already priced in the positives and that a technical correction could be in the offing before the market resumed its upward trend.
“Although we remain positive, the strategy is not to chase prices. The bull market isn’t dead, but it would be good to keep some cash and deploy this when the market corrects because share prices have gone up quite a bit in a short time,” Tan said.
Tan last week projected the PSEI reaching 9,300 this year.
Actively traded stocks included BDO Unibank Inc., which climbed 0.3 percent to P157.50; Ayala Land Inc., which advanced 1.1 percent to P47.50; SM Prime Holdings Inc., which rose 0.3 percent to P38.60; and SM Investments Corp., which advanced 3.6 percent to P1,140.
The dollar, meanwhile, edged back down in Asia on Friday as a Donald Trump-inspired surge petered out with analysts tipping the US unit to continue weakening.
The resumption in the greenback’s sell-off reversed early gains in Tokyo, which ended down for a third day, though Hong Kong surged to new peaks in mixed equity trade.
Hong Kong jumped 1.6 percent after sinking almost one percent on profit-taking, while Shanghai added 0.3 percent and Seoul rose 0.5 percent. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur also rose while Singapore was flat. But Wellington, Taipei and Bangkok retreated.
Sydney was closed for a public holiday.
Forex markets have been on a roller-coaster ride the past few days after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent the dollar spiraling to multi-year lows by saying at the Davos meeting of business and political leaders that a weaker unit was “good for us.” With AFP