PSEi seen to rise

PHILIPPINE stocks managed to post gains last week and for the coming trading days may continue moving within a tight range with an “upward bias.”

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) was up 0.63 percent to 7,665.52 as of Friday’s close. Contributing to the gain was the buying of “oversold” companies such as Semirara Mining Corp. and parent DMCI Holdings Inc.,

whose share prices fell following a fatal incident at Semirara’s mining site this month.

Stockbrokerage firm I.B. Gimenez Securities Inc. noted that the market’s direction would be mainly determined by the stream of reports on second-quarter earnings as well as further hints on any rate decision by the US Federal Reserve.

The PSEi is up about 6 percent since the beginning of 2015.

Jonathan Ravelas, chief strategist at BDO Unibank Inc., noted that there was a chance for the PSEi to move higher. He said via social media site Twitter last Friday that the PSEi was “still seeing tests toward 7,800 in the near-term.” Miguel R. Camus