Stock market poised to advance this week

Share prices are expected to sustain their upward momentum this week as easing restrictions and positive third-quarter results will bolster investor confidence in the market.

Analysts said the relaxed Alert level 2 quarantine classification and the decreasing daily COVID-19 cases in the country were providing confidence the country would continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

Should the market sustain the rally, online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia.com said the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange Index will test its 52-week high of 7,432 points.

The market will continue to monitor the inflation data, which is expected to remain elevated for the remainder of the year due to increases in food and oil prices.

The positive third-quarter earnings results and upcoming equity raising activities are also expected to boost investor sentiment.

The PSEi surged 4.1 percent to 7.340.77 last week after the government further lowered the quarantine restrictions in the National Capital Region on falling COVID-19 cases.

Four of the sectoral indices posted week-on-week increases, led by property (+7.39 percent), financials (+4.40 percent), services (+3.32 percent) and holding firms (+3.06 percent).

The mining and oil index fell 1.4 percent while industrials dipped 0.01 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers of the week by P865 million while the average daily value traded rose to P8 billion from the previous week’s average of P6.9 billion.

Weekly top price gainers were Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., which climbed 11.2 percent to P21.50; Robinsons Land Corp., which advanced 10.6 percent to P18.80; and Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which surged 10.3 percent to P7.50.

Weekly top price losers were newly-listed firm AllDay Marts Inc., which fell 14.4 percent to P0.77; Semirara Mining and Power Corp., which slipped 6.7 percent; to P24.25 and DITO CME Holdings Corp., which dropped 5.9 percent to P6.62.

Meanwhile, blockbuster job creation helped push US stocks to new records on Friday, with an added boost from news of Pfizer’s new COVID-19 treatment.

The US economy added a better-than-expected 531,000 jobs last month as a wide range of industries took on workers, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent, Labor Department data showed.

The better-than-expected result indicated hiring is resurging as COVID-19 infections decline, and job gains in August and September were 235,000 stronger than originally reported.

“When you add in the big upward revisions to August and September’s job numbers, this is a blockbuster,” said Jay Mawji, managing director of the global liquidity provider   IX Prime.  

“With America’s resurgent economy piling on well over half a million new jobs in October alone, we’re firmly in boom territory.”

The jobs report sent all three main indices on Wall Street to new record highs, with the broad-based S&P 500 advancing 0.4 percent for a two percent gain for the week.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq smashed through the 16,000 point level for the first time during the session, before closing just shy of that threshold.

European stocks also ended the week firmly higher, with the benchmark Paris CAC 40 index breaching the 7,000-point for the first time, while Frankfurt’s DAX was in striking distance of an all-time high.

London stocks rose 0.3 percent, aided by the weak pound a day after the Bank of England unexpectedly held UK interest rates. With AFP