Cautious stock trading seen on weak global outlook

The stock market is seen continuing to trade with caution in line with subdued sentiment across global markets.

Last week, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index fell by 1.37 percent to close on Friday at 7,824.59.

BDO Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas said investors were preserving some of their gains from the previous rally after the market failed to sustain the rally above the 8,000 level.

“The week’s close at 7,824.59 highlights [that] downward momentum is accelerating,” Ravelas said. “Look for a test toward 7,700 should a break of 7,800 levels occur in the near-term.”

Other stock traders see 7,700 as a strong support level for the stock barometer.

Aside from fragile US-China relations, another overhang for the market is the latest MSCI rebalancing, which has deleted conglomerates AGI and DMCI from the MSCI Philippine index.

Meanwhile, ING Philippines economist Nicholas Mapa said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) did not appear to be in a hurry to slash the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) some more.

“We are aware how detrimental it would be to overlook symptoms and act late or equally troubling to act too soon without data and misdiagnose,” Mapa said.

The BSP has slashed its overnight interest rates by a total of 75 basis points this year alongside a 400-basis point RRR reduction.

Given that the price objective appears “safeguarded” into the medium term, ING expects the BSP to ease further to chase a higher growth target in 2020 and beyond.