Thin trading seen

The local stock market may continue trading in thin volume this week as many investors are still on holiday mode after last week’s long Lenten break.

During last week’s three-day trading week, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 74.22 points or 1.13 percent to end Friday at 6,671.18, boosted by favorable data out of the United States.

This week, the market may continue with an upward bias but volume would remain modest as many investors would likely be on extended holiday break, said Joseph Roxas, president of local stockbrokerage Eagle Equities Inc.

Joyce Anne Ramos, an analyst at AB Capital Securities, said that as the market resumes trading after a long holiday break, it would be “more

susceptible to a sudden drop or spike up.”

She said the movement would depend on the nature of the updates such as the content of Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda’s and US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s separate speeches this week as well as the release of US building permits, unemployment claims and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index, which may affect the trading in overseas markets.

“On a technical basis, the four-month upward trend remains intact,” she said, adding that investors must remain cautious as any significant news over the long weekend would determine the direction of this week’s trading.

Support level is seen at 6,530 and resistance level at 6,740.

Among the data releases to watch this week are US existing and new home sales, core durable goods and unemployment claims as well as China’s HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers index).

Last week, Ramos noted that trading was slow as investors were already on a vacation mode, curbing the average daily trading value to P6.68 billion from previous week’s P8.25 billion. Doris C. Dumlao