Range-bound trading seen in short trading week

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) will likely stay within a tight range this coming week, which will be cut short by holidays and as investors digest a slew of domestic and global indicators.

The PSEi closed Friday at 7,740.74, a week-on-week gain of about 3.2 percent.

“That was driven by the better-than-expected inflation numbers,” said BDO Unibank Inc. chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas. The cost of basic goods and services went up by 4.6 percent for May 2018, below consensus forecasts.

Ravelas said this eased pressures for an interest rate hike later this month.

“I think the market will remain range-bound,” he said, citing a narrow window between 7,500 and 7,800 for the PSEi.

Luis Gerado Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development, said he also expected less activity “because of the shortened work week.” June 12, independence day, is a regular holiday and June 15 has been declared a holiday as well to mark Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting period.

Limlingan pegged support and resistance levels at 7,450 and 7,850, respectively, for the PSEi.

For local data, he said investors would look toward the latest figures on remittances from Filipinos working overseas. The United States will also release a string of data or announcements on its Consumer Price Index, crude oil inventories, the Federal Open Market Committee, jobless claims and retail sales. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS