PSE index seen striving to stay above 8,000

The local stock barometer is seen striving to stay above the 8,000 mark this week, riding on buoyant global sentiment and improving domestic macroeconomic fundamentals.

Last week, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) racked up a total of 143.03 points, or 1.81 percent to close on Friday at 8,047.12.

BDO Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas said investors were now betting that Philippine equities could still do well amid expectations of cooling inflation and Wall Street’s volatility.

Investors have been buying blue chips that are seen
to benefit from foreign inflows and positioning in stocks that will gain as inflation eases, he said.

“The week’s close at 8,047.12 signals the market still has the momentum to try the 8,150 levels, as we touched the 8,057.57 intra-week high,” Ravelas said.

“Failure for the market to stay above the 8,000 levels could signal more profit-taking activities back to 7,500 to 7,800 levels,” he added.

Local stock brokerage Papa Securities said the PSEi was expected to trek toward the 8,100 to 8,200 levels in the near term on expectations of lower inflation for January.

For the next 12 months, Papa Securities analyst Arbee Lu said the PSEi would likely reach 8,500 to 8,800.

Since the start of the year, the PSEi has gained a total of 581.1 points, or 7.2 percent from the end-2018 finish of 7,466.02.

Meanwhile, analysts said the passing of tycoon Henry Sy Sr.—whose family controls three of the most valuable companies in the stock market, namely SM Investments Corp., SM Prime Holdings and BDO Unibank—isn’t seen to dampen interest in these index heavyweights as leadership transition to the next generation has long been implemented.