Local stocks seen gaining this month

The local stock barometer is seen to start trading in September with optimism after keeping itself above the 7,800 barrier last week.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 89.24 points or 1.15 percent last week to close on Friday at 7,855.71.

After breaking 7,800 and gaining 2.4 percent for the month of August, the index is next set to test the next resistance soon at 8,000, Eagle Equities research head Christopher Mangun said.

The last time the market gained in the month of August was back in 2014 when the market was up for the whole year, Mangun said.

“We are starting September with a lot of confidence and I have no doubt that the index will break and stay above that 8,000 key level. Breaking above, it will start a climb to the upside, which may even take us to the previous high of 9,000 before the end of the year,” Mangun said.

“It is all going to come down to an increase in trading volume. Asian emerging markets are proving to be stronger than their counterparts in the west and if foreign investors start to take notice of that, we may see a significant increase in foreign funds,” he said.

Last week, Mangun noted that value turnover was at P28.21 billion, higher than the previous week in spite of both having only four trading days. Majority of the top gainers were blue chips such as JG Summit, Metro Pacific and First Gen, which were the laggards in the previous year.