The local stock barometer ended flat on Friday as investors took their cue from a sluggish regional sentiment.
The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added a marginal 0.69 points or 0.009 percent to close on Friday at 7,507.20 on selective buying of large-cap stocks.
For the week, the index displayed relative resilience, adding a total of 306.41 points or 4.25 percent from last week’s finish of 7,200.79. The index managed to climb out of bear territory as foreign buying resumed in recent days.
On Thursday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) cut its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points in what was believed to be a “preemptive” move to counter the adverse economic impact of the novel coronavirus contagion.
“The still benign inflation outlook affords the central bank proper scope to continue easing monetary policy with [BSP Governor Benjamin] Diokno primed to carry out a second rate cut sometime within the first half of the year. Diokno had previously telegraphed up to 50 basis points worth of policy easing in 2020 and we expect him to cut policy rates again, as early as the May meeting,” said ING Philippines economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa.
Meanwhile, Mapa said the BSP would likely shelve plans to adjust the reserve requirement given that recent cuts had not translated directly into bank lending activity, with Diokno noting that a mere 30 percent of liquidity released through reserve requirement cut had been channeled to the productive sector with the bulk of the P400-billion infusion simply returning to the BSP via its overnight facilities.
“Thus we expect reserve requirement reductions to be pushed back, likely to the second half of the year,” Mapa said.
On Friday, the index was shored up by the financial, industrial, mining/oil and property counters, which all slightly gained.
On the other hand, the holding firm and services counters both slipped.
Total value turnover for the day amounted to P5.32 billion. There was net foreign buying of P288.47 million.
Despite the PSEi’s steady movement on Friday, market breadth was negative. There were 105 decliners that outnumbered 71 advancers, while 54 stocks were unchanged.
The PSEi was supported by the gains of URC and BDO, which both rose by over 1 percent.
Index heavyweight SM Prime rose by 0.95 percent while ICTSI, GT Capital, Puregold, BPI and Megaworld all firmed up by less than 1 percent.
Outside of the PSEi, one notable gainer was newly listed Fruitas Holdings, which surged by 3.74 percent.
On the other hand, PLDT and Security Bank both declined by over 2 percent.
Conglomerate Ayala Corp., the day’s most actively traded company, lost 1.32 percent.
JG Summit and Metrobank also both declined by over 1 percent, while Metro Pacific declined by 0.31 percent.