Stocks seen to rise

AFTER breaking past the 8,000 mark, the local stock barometer is seen to rise further on follow-through buying this week as investor sentiment remains mostly upbeat.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 258.54 points or 3.33 percent last week to close at 8,030.06 on Friday.

Expectation of better second-quarter earnings and positive investor sentiment pushed share prices higher last week, BDO Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas said. He noted that the local bourse had posted the biggest weekly net inflow of $157.4 million since May 27.

“Chartwise, the week’s close at 8,030.06 continues to support the the view that the market has still some gas to retry the 8,136 levels in the near-term,” Ravelas said, referring to the PSEi’s all-time high level hit in April 2015.

“However, one may note that momentum indicators are at overbought territory and volume is declining,” Ravelas said, explaining this could be “an early indication that the market may be nearing a top.” Doris Dumlao-Abadilla