Stocks set to re-test 7,000 points

Share prices are expected to re-test the 7,000-point level over the near-term period amid optimism on the government’s vaccination rollout program.

Analysts said the equities market might go into higher territory this week on improving economic outlook as more people are being inoculated with the arrival of additional vaccines.

The government’s move to start the vaccination of economic workers is also a positive step toward the further reopening of the domestic economy.

“With the market seeming to have priced in most of the negatives on the macroeconomic front (GDP downgrades, weak labor market, among others), gyrations moving forward will likely be tied to the reopening story, heading into an election year,” online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia.com said.

Market expectations that the current monetary policy will be maintained to help with the restart of the economy is also boosting investor confidence.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index posted its straight weekly gains, gaining 1.6 percent at 6,907/79, while the boarder All Shares Index rose 1.6 percent to 4,174.65.

All counters posted week-on-week gains led by industrial, which rose 2.3 percent, property which went up 2.1 percent and holdings firms which advanced 1.5 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers by P865.5 million, while the average daily value traded dropped to P6 billion from previous week’s average of P10.87 billion.

Weekly to price gainers were GMA Network Inc., which climbed 19.6 percent to P11.40, Eagle Cement Corp., which advanced 8.8 percent to P14.52, and LBC Express Holdings Inc., which rose 7.1 percent to P18.

Weekly top price losers included Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., which declined 3.7 percent to P51.05, Alliance Global Group Inc., which fell 3.6 percent to P10.22 and DITO CME Holdings Corp., which dipped 3 percent to P9.60.

European stock markets, meanwhile, closed the week in a bullish mood Friday, while the S&P 500 edged to a second straight record as investors weighed US consumer confidence and inflation data.

Equity markets in Paris and Frankfurt cheered a day after the European Central Bank adopted a dovish policy posture even as it raised its growth forecast.

ECB chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday said it would be “too early and premature” to discuss tightening monetary policy, even as officials lifted their annual inflation outlook.

“European markets have ripped higher to close the week in a bullish mood,” Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at ThinkMarkets, told AFP.

“With the central bank covering their backs, investors bought every single short-term dip in stocks, causing the Euro Stoxx 50 and the CAC 40 to hit new highs for the year on Friday, with the German DAX also nearing its record high hit last week.”

Britain’s economic recovery, meanwhile, is gathering pace, with GDP growing by 2.3 percent in April alone as the UK government eased its lockdown, according to official data released Friday.

Back in the US markets, major indices finished a choppy session with modest gains. With AFP