LAST WEEK
SHARE prices gained last week as investors took positions ahead of the earnings reporting season that may start by early August.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 103.83 points to close at 7,989.73 points.
Last week the index twice tried but failed both times to break past the 8,000-point psychological level. The main index was up almost all week, except on Thursday, when it gave up 68.56 points.
Foreign investors were net buyers at P568 million, while average value of trade this week reached P7.16 billion, or slightly higher than the year-to-date average.
Except for the Services index that shed a measly 1.47 to close at 1,693.04, all other subindices managed to gain points.
The broader All Shares index gained 35.82 points to close at 4,771.64, the Financials index rose 8.88 to 1,965.01, the Industrial index climbed 117.36 to 11,236.33, the Holding Firms index added 47.06 to 7,927.93, the Property index soared 103.91 to 3,790.97 and the Mining and Oil index expanded 261.07 to 12,991.06.
For the week, losers slightly edged gainers 122 to 109 and 24 shares were unchanged.
Top gainers were Philippine Estates Corp., Lorenzo Shipping Corp., DFNN Inc., Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp., Ever-Gotesco Resources and Holdings Inc. and Panasonic Manufacturing Philippines Corp.
Top losers, meanwhile, were Jolliville Holdings Corp., Concrete Aggregates Corp. B, Zeus Holdings Inc., Global-Estate Resorts Inc., Philippine H2O Ventures Corp. and ISM Communications Corp.
THIS WEEK
SHARE prices may move according to the pronouncements of President Duterte during his State of the Nation Address on Monday.
“The President is expected to address critical issues in the Philippines and offer plans of action,” Jeffrey Lucero of RCBC Research said. “We also expect the start of first half of 2017 earnings release in the coming weeks to dictate the movement of the market.”
“Details on Duterte’s Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train), as well as [the] ‘Build, Build, Build’ program will be among key topics that will be looked forward to, as these are catalysts [that] are conjoined in companies’ capex [capital expenditure] rollout plan,” 2TradeAsia.com said.
It added investors will trade based on the events that will happen at home. The main index is seen to trade between 7,904 to 8,005 points this week.
“Meanwhile, with the start of [the] Chelsea Logistics offer period, reallocation might be apparent as some consider the prospects of the logistics sector,” the online broker said.
Chelsea will start its offer period this week and will list by early next month.
STOCK PICKS
SHARES of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. may be active this week when investors sold off shares last week after the lender was involved in a P900-million internal fraud scandal.
Investors sold off Metrobank shares on Friday, which fell 5 percent. RCBC said it was possibly a knee-jerk reaction to the news.
Some analysts expect Metrobank’s share price to recover this week. Its shares closed last Friday at P86.90 per share.
Meanwhile, Regina Capital and Development Corp. (RCDC) said the share price of BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender, breached its 20-day immediate resistance but failed to trade above that level.
“It might try again to reach this resistance within the week but prices could drop afterward, as momentum is seen diving,” RCDC said, giving a sell on rallies recommendation on the stock.
BDO shares closed at P123.90 per share last week.