Energy stocks help PSEi firm up at 7,229.72
MANILA, Philippines — The local stock barometer firmed up for the second straight session on Monday, led by the Lopez-led energy stocks, which reported plans to expand its renewable energy projects.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 12.38 points or 0.17 percent to close at 7,229.72. Elsewhere in the region, trading was lackluster as Japan entered an economic recession.
All counters were up at the local market but value turnover was relatively thin at P6.16 billion. Despite the PSEi’s rise, market breadth was negative as there were 96 decliners that outnumbered 72 advancers while 50 stocks were unchanged.
Lopez-led FGEN (+3.28 percent) and EDC (+1.23 percent) led the PSEi higher. EDC reported plans to build more wind power projects with an additional capacity of 550 megawatts in the next few years.
After Monday’s close, this week’s trend may go sideways to upwards, based on the bullish signals from moving average convergence-divergence (MACD) and DMI (directional movement index, said Luis Limlingan, managing director at local stock brokerage Regina Capital Development Corp.
The key levels to keep close watch for, Limlingan said, would be 7,168 and 7,250, noting that a breach on either levels would dictate the index’s trend phase. His recommended strategy is to accumulate for as long as 7,200 holds and move towards a strong buying position once 7,250 is breached.
“The PSEi is now holding to a very important support line (7,200) to keep the projected uptrend line intact. A support line break is fine as long as 20- and 50-day moving averages are not violated,” Limlingan said.
“We are adjusting key support to 7,168 to reflect the slightly upward bias trend of the index. Bullish condition for this week is a bounce above 7,200 and moving past 7,250 to potentially test short-term resistance of 7,360,” he said.
Apart from Lopez stocks, ALI and GTCapital likewise helped perk up the index, both rising by over 1 percent. BDO, Bloomberry, AP, BPI and Semirara also contributed to the PSEi’s gains.
The day’s most actively traded stock is newly listed specialty retailer SSI, which went up by 4.8 percent. Another non-PSEi stocks which also gained sharply in heavy volume was CMT (+13.92 percent) as the market anticipated the backdoor listing of a the Platinum mining group. Shares of RRHI (+3.6 percent) and Cebu Air (+1.48 percent) also surged.
On the other hand, the PSEi’s gains were tempered by the decline of PLDT, AGI, Metrobank, Megaworld and URC.
