Stock index seen breaching 8,200 mark

The local stock barometer is seen attempting to breach the 8,200 barrier this week as the bulls struggle to regain control of the market.

Last week, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose for the second straight session, adding 23.88 points or 0.3 percent to close on Friday at 8,141.82.

Apart from the dovish rhetoric from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, investors are also positioning ahead of the second-quarter local corporate earnings reporting season, said BDO Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas.

“The week’s close at 8,141.82 signals it’s on track to challenge the 8,200 levels,” Ravelas said. “A break above 8,200 could signal a breakout of the 7,500 to 8,000 level consolidation and engage the bulls back to play to try the 8,500 levels.”

Despite recent gains, however, AAA Securities head of research Christopher Mangun said the general investor sentiment remained cautious.

“Investors are still not fully convinced that the market is going higher,” Mangun said.

Mangun said the property sector had been supporting the local market since the beginning of the year, but could not continue to do so.

“Property companies like Ayala Land and Megaworld are at all-time highs and even SM Prime Holdings is due for some profit-taking. We need to see the rest of the companies on the PSEi start to move before investors are convinced that we are in a bull run,” he said.

But he said investors might gain confidence as earnings reports start coming in.