Investors take a breather, await Q3 GDP numbers; index closes flat

The local stock barometer ended flat on Monday as investors reassessed recent gains ahead of the much-awaited third quarter Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) report.

The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) inched up by 0.16 point or 0.002 percent to close at 6,685.85. The index is now trading at levels last seen before the mid-March lockdowns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Local shares closed flat after trading mostly negative for most of the session as investors waited for third quarter GDP and the latest MSCI rebalancing results, continued to assess the implications of the [US] election results, and weighed a surge in COVID-19 cases,” said Luis Gerardo Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development.

The Philippine government is set to release on Tuesday the third quarter economic report.

“It is expected that third quarter GDP will still contract year-on-year but improve after a historical 16.9 percent [revised] year-on-year contraction in the previous quarter,” Lim­lingan said.

Based on consensus forecasts, GDP may have contracted at a single-digit pace in the third quarter versus the previous year.

At the stock market, the mining/oil counter outperformed the rest of the counters with its 3.16-percent gain.

The industrial and property counters rose by 1.9 percent and 1.16 percent, respectively. The financial and services counters both gained less than 1 percent.

On the other hand, the holding firm counter slipped by 1.27 percent.

Value turnover for the day amounted to P8 billion. Domestic hands kept the market steady as there was P394.7 million in net foreign selling for the day.

There were 131 advancers that edged out 83 decliners, while 42 stocks were unchanged.

SM Prime shored up the PSEi with its 3.17-percent gain.

GT Capital advanced by 2 percent, while PLDT, Jollibee and Metro Pacific all added over 1 percent.

BDO, Security Bank and Metrobank all slightly rose.

Outside the PSEi, notable gainers included MerryMart and AC Energy, which respectively surged by 7.53 percent and 8.66 percent.—DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA INQ