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Philippines: Choppy trade expected this week
MANILA, Philippines — Expect another choppy stock trading this week, as global markets react to developments in the war in Eastern Europe, particularly its underlying impact on oil and commodities prices.
The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed higher for the second straight week last Friday, although this cut short a prior two-day upswing.
The main index finished at 7,152.88, higher by 28.04 points or 0.4 percent week-on-week after the previous week’s gain of 1.7 percent.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said market sentiment got some support from US stock markets, which continued to correct higher to 1.5-month highs, largely due to the recent downturn in global oil prices and generally better US economic data.
He said for this week, major leads include the trend in global oil and commodity prices, developments on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and progress on the country’s COVID-19 situation.
Ricafort said the proposed nationwide Alert Level 1 by the country’s economic team, including resumption of in-person schooling, among other measures to further re-open the economy, has helped mitigate the adverse economic impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Thus, a further easing of the alert level system would be even more positive for the economy.
Important positive factors that helped offset the adverse economic effects of the still ongoing lockdowns, he said, include the CREATE Law, which was signed into law last year, as well as the progress on priority reform measures in Congress, especially those that could encourage more foreign investment inflows into the country.
These include the newly signed Public Service Act, Amendments to the Foreign Investment Act, and the proposed amendments on restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution.
He said the PSEi could hit its next support levels at 6,800 to 6,900, which would prevent further downward correction.
The immediate major support is lower at 6,600 to 6,700, which help keep intact the underlying upward trend over the past eight months, with important resistance levels at 7,200 over the past two months.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2022/04/04/2171989/choppy-trade-expected-week