Stocks are expected to sustain gains this week amid progress in Greece’s debt negotiations and expectations of strong second-quarter earnings of listed companies.
BDO Unibank Inc. chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravales said optimism over Greece’s bailout deal and China posting a GDP growth of 7 percent in the second quarter werepositive developments for the local equities market.
“Chartwise, the index managed to close above the 7,500 level. As such, we continue to see a test towards the 7,800 levels in the near-term,” Ravelas said.
BPI Asset Management said in its weekly outlook the developments in Greece and North Asian markets would drive the movement of the local stock market this week.
“We expect the PSEi to trade between 7,529 and 7,741 with an upward bias,” BPI Asset said.
The PSEi, the 30-company benchmar of the Philippine Stock Exchange, last week closed at 7,617.13 on July 16, up 3 percent from previous week’s close while the all-shares index advanced 2.8 percent to end the shortebed trading week at 4,345.56.
“The local market tracked the positive movement on Wall St. for most of the week and will likely trend upwards should companies release better-than-expected 2Q2015 results in the coming weeks,” RCBC Securities said.
All major sub-indices ended in the green, led by mining and ion (up 4.9 percent), services (up 3.8 percent) and property (up 3.8 percent).
Foreign investors, however, remained net sellers last week by P963 million, as total foreign selling reached P13.48 billion while foreign buying amounted to P12.51 billion.
Average daily turnover amounted to P6.47 billion, slightly lower than the previous week’s average of P16.48 billion.
– Jennifer B. Austria, Manila Standard today