Roundup: Positive news push up Philippine stocks on Friday

The Philippine market Friday managed to close the week higher on a string of positive news despite its sluggish performance.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by 0.09 percent or 2.78 points to close at 2,884.18 on Friday, while the all share index gained 0.16 percent or 2.97 points to 1,830.18.

Trading also remains high where some 5.02 billion shares valued at 4.21 billion pesos (86 million U.S. dollars) were exchanged. And for the third time this week, foreign investors continue to be net sellers at 33 million pesos (674,000 U.S. dollars).

Three of the six subsector indices dipped. Mining and oil shares tumbled by 2.47 percent or 207.83 points to 8,180.69, along with holding firms and the service sector.

Property shares meanwhile continue to shine, going up by 1.1 percent or 12.01 points to 1,101.41 and was followed by industrial and financial shares. Jun Calaycay of local brokerage Accord Capital Equities Corp. said property stocks continue to shine because of the better second quarter gross domestic product results.

More stocks gained than lost 58 to 40 while 71 shares were unchanged.

"Investors right now are in a wait and see position. Most of them perceived that most stocks are in their overbought level and are just waiting for the big correction before coming in while others are in the lookout for undervalued stocks," Calaycay said.

The analyst pointed out that the market has already regained more than half of its value after being plunged last year.

For the week, the composite index has gained an astonishing 6. 02 percent boosted mainly by the more than 100-point gain the market posted on Monday. This reversed the 4 percent decline the local composite index posted the previous week.

Calaycay said the market this week has been a product of a tug of war between the buyers and the sellers. It so happens, he said, that there were more buyers than sellers, hence the flat movement with an upside bias.

"There is already a growing consensus that the economy and the market have already touched their bottom and most are just looking at their recovery. The question right now however is when will that recovery happen," he said.

Because of this, most investors took the advantage of locking their gains first. Others who continue to buy at a high price meanwhile were already factoring the downside risk, which they perceived to have already narrowed as shown by technical indicators.

"For next week, we can expect another flat movement since we are not expecting any news locally and overseas. Most investors will take their cue on the movement of the US market," he said.

The local market is also closed on Monday as the whole country celebrates the national hero day.

The analyst added that unless there is news significant enough to surprise investors, the market will likely continue to consolidate at a tight range.

The U.S. market closed higher on Thursday, but marked its fourth day of flatting performance. The Dow Jones industrial average added 37.11 points or 0.39 percent to settle at 9,580.63 after crude prices went up.

Stocks in the Philippine 30-company index also closed mixed.

The property arm of businessman Andrew Tan Megaworld Corp. has again climbed by 2.53 percent or four centavos to 1.62 pesos (0.03 U.S. dollar).

Heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. meanwhile slipped by 0.39 percent or 10 pesos (0.2 U.S. dollar) to 2,520 pesos (51.5 U.S. dollars).

Related terms: gross domestic product, index, industrial, local, market, mining, oil, property, us dollar, war