More active stock trading seen this week

Investors may see trading action return for the week as market participants position ahead of first-quarter earnings and a string of economic data.

This comes after a week of lackluster volume as select issues moved on announcements made during company annual meetings and a succession of earthquakes struck different parts of the country.

Even President Duterte’s visit to China for the second Belt and Road Forum, where the country secured more than $12 billion in trade commitments and investments, failed to lift markets significantly.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Excange index (PSEi) was hardly changed, gaining just 0.42 percent to 7,868.28 week-on-week.

“The PSEi slipped 26 points Friday but managed to hold over its critical short-term support structure of 7,770-7,730,” said Juanis Barredo, COL Financial Group vice president and chief technical analyst.

“As long as it manages to keep itself over this threshold it may maintain its consolidating range from that low to 8,800, the upper band of which is what it needs to break to restore itself back into a rally swing,” he added.

Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development, said activity could pick up as investors focus on earnings.

Later this week, he said investors would also be turning their attention to the upcoming central bank meeting and data on inflation.

Meanwhile, 2TradeAsia said the holiday-shortened week would continue to be volatile. It attributed this to the nearing elections on May 13.

2TradeAsia advised investors to focus on select companies, namely Manila Electric Co., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures and its power subsidiary.

It pegged the support for the PSEi at 7,800 while the resistance range was seen from 7,950-8,000.