Weak trading seen this week

Sluggish trading is seen to prevail this week with the onset of the so-called “ghost month” although second-quarter income reports can provide relief to selected stocks.

Last week, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 22.56 points, or 0.43 percent, to end at 5,263.35 on Friday as the worst flooding in Metro Manila and some parts of Luzon since 2009 was expected to cause an increase in commodity prices.

Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities Inc., said trading volume would likely be lower this week and the bias still on the downside. “But I don’t think the index will fall sharply because second-quarter earnings reports look good,” he said.

Roxas said selective stocks could rise depending on the second-quarter numbers or specific news that would come out.

But even through the “ghost month,” which will start on August 17 and end on September 15, Roxas said the index would not likely fall below the 5,000 mark.

In the lunar calendar, the “ghost” month is a period deemed unlucky to make big bets, buy a house, get married or open a business. It also coincides with the long summer holidays in the West when many investment managers go on vacation.

BPI Securities said the market would likely find support this week at 5,179 and resistance at 5,330. It said the US economic indicators to watch out for this week were the producer price index, retail sales, consumer price index, industrial production, housing starts, jobless claims and consumer sentiment.—Doris C. Dumlao