Trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange is expected to remain volatile at the start of the first trading week of June on geopolitical concerns and US president Donald Trump’s trade war.
Analysts said developments overseas were adding to the woes of investors, already bothered by rising inflation and interest rates despite the market’s strong rally Friday.
“The week’s close at 7,630.26 continues to suggest further tests towards the 7,000/7,200 support range into play. Any pullback (if any) is limited towards the 7,500/7,800 levels,” BDO Unibank chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said.
Analysts, however, said the upcoming initial public offerings of DM Wenceslao & Associates Inc. and Del Monte Philippines Inc. could provide a bit of excitement to the sluggish market.
Both companies plan to conduct their share sale this month.
The PSEi last week managed to close above the 7,600-point level after staying below 7,500 for most of the week, thanks to Friday’s strong recovery. The PSEi is down 10.8 percent since the start of 2018.
Foreign investors were still net sellers for the week by P2.3 billion as total foreign selling amounted to P26.8 billion against the foreign buying of P24.5 billion.
Foreign investors are net sellers by P52.98 billion from January to May this year.
The average daily value traded, meanwhile, stood at P8.3 billion, up from last week’s average of P5.2 billion, due to seasonal window dressing at the end of the month.
Weekly top price gainers were Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., which rose 6.9 percent to P6.95; SM Investments Corp., which advanced 4.5 percent to P906.50; and Megaworld Corp., which climbed 4 percent to P4.90.
Weekly top price losers were Petron Corp., which declined 7.2 percent to P8.75; PLDT Inc., which fell 5.2 percent to P1,295; and DoubleDragon Properties Corp., which lost 5.4 percent to P28.90.
Wall Street stocks, meanwhile, rallied Friday after US jobs growth topped expectations, shifting attention from global trade war worries.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the final session of the week with a gain of 0.9 percent at 24,635.21.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent to end at 2,734.62, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.5 percent to 7,554.33.
Officials continued to respond to President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday to impose trade tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Europe, Mexico and Canada, with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warning at a Group of Seven ministerial in Canada that Trump was risking “economic destabilization of the planet.”
But investors took solace from strong US data.
The Labor Department reported that the US added 223,000 non-farm jobs last month, stronger than the consensus forecast of economists, and unemployment fell 3.8 percent, its lowest level in 18 years.
A report by the Institute for Supply Management on the manufacturing industry also topped expectations.
“A lot of the economic data today were stronger than expected,” said Karl Haeling of LBBW. With AFP