Upbeat trading seen

The local stock market is seen to open with an upbeat bias ahead of President Aquino’s State-of-the-Nation Address (Sona) on Monday. For the rest of the week, however, trading will depend on what investors will hear from the President.

Last week, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index ended 0.7-percent higher at 6,621.02.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc., said the market was usually buoyant ahead of the Sona but subsequent trading would depend on what the chief executive would say.

Maria Arlysa Narciso, an analyst at AB Capital Securities, said stocks have shown improvement after the sharp declines and were now moving steadily sideways. “However, we don’t recommend to go heavy on investing yet due to risk of sudden sways brought about by developments in foreign markets,” she said.

In terms of fundamentals, she said the Philippines’ growth was on track with its full-year target as factors such as inflation, interest rates, currency and remittances were at manageable levels. She also cited favorable reports that the government intended to revive manufacturing and boost infrastructure spending to 20 percent of the budget next year.—Doris C. Dumlao