Online stockbrokerage firm Colfinancial.com still sees the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closing between 8,100 and 8,300 by yearend.
At yesterday’s trade, the PSEi was up 176.08 points to 6,446.31, a 2.81 percent hike, its largest gain in two months amid a broader regional upturn.
April Tan, COL chief equity strategist, said while the PSEi is currently treading below the 6,500 level, all negatives “have been factored in” as inflation has peaked and corporate earnings have started to recover.
Year- to- date, the PSEi is down 8.6 percent and is the worst performing in Asean. The only other market in the region that is down is Kuala Lumpur’s index, 6.9 percent.
Indices in other Asean markets are up; Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index, 2 percent; Stock Exchange of Thailand, 6.1 percent; Strait Times index, 10.4 percent and; Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, 15.7 percent.
The Philippines also has the slowest economic recovery, the highest inflation as well as the slowest vaccination rate, Tan noted. ,
Tan added the prioritization of the National Capital Region (NCR) in the vaccine rollout ensures the swift recovery of the economy given NCR contributes a big portion of the economic output, addressing the risk of a credit rating downgrade.
Tan said orders for more vaccines have been made and the country will soon have procured a total of 157 million doses — enough for 71 percent of the population.
Marvin Fausto, COL chief investment strategist, said more retail investors now have a negative outlook, opting to simply keep, if not reduce, their current investments.
Citing COL’s survey that gauge retail investors’ confidence, Fausto said only half of the respondents expressed intent to further increase their holdings in the stock market in the next six months, compared with 75 percent six months ago. People who opted to keep their current portfolio were at 40 percent, compared with 24 percent in the previous survey, while those intending to reduce their holdings rose to 7 percent compared with 2 percent six months prior.
Respondents who remain bullish about the market dropped to 28 percent compared with 53 percent six months ago.
Juanis Barredo, COL chief technical analyst, said the market’s “recent oversold levels may allow for some rally time (6,600 to 6,700).”
“Some headwinds still show — but such should only delay the recovery swing. We should look for technical openings for the economic reopening,” he said.
“If an ECQ (enhanced community quarantine shock comes, take the chance to slowly buy into transitory weakness,” Barredo added.
Meanwhile, the broader all shares index rose 50.41 points yesterday to 3,985.27, a 1.28 percent hike.
Losers edged gainers 118 to 76 with 46 stocks unchanged. Trading turnover reached P3.54 billion.
The peso closed at 49.90 to the dollar, up from 49.97 on Friday.
The currency opened at 49.95 and hit a high of 49.90 and a low of 50.05. Trading turnover reached $776.52 million.
SB Equities Inc. said the market’s rebound was a result of bargain- hunting late in the session, resulting to the market’s largest gain in two months amid a broader regional upturn.
“Following last week’s sell-off that sank valuations to a near 12-month low, the PSEi traded in the green all session as investors also digested positive earnings,” it said.
Most actively traded BDO Unibank Inc. was up P4.50 to P106.50. SM Investments Corp. was up 34.50 to P945. SM Prime Holdings Inc. was up P0.85 to P32.30. Globe Telecom Inc. was up P40 to P1,900. Emperador Inc. was up P0.32 to P14.30. AC Energy Corp. was up P0.02 to P8.03. International Container Terminal Services Inc. was up P5.50 to P161.
Jollibee Foods Corp. was down P1.40 to P188.60. Monde Nissin Corp. was steady at P14.78.
