Window dressing lifts stocks amid lack of leads

THE BELLWETHER INDEX closed in the green on Monday despite the lack of strong leads as investors dressed up their portfolios in preparation for the month’s end.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index ( PSEi) closed higher by 18.54 points or 0.23% to close at 7,886.03 yesterday, reversing Friday’s drop of 4.16 points or 0.05%.

The broader all shares gauge also went up by 10.26 points or 0.21% to 4,700.14 at the closing bell.

“The Philippine market kicked off the last few days of May in the green after taking a momentary breather last Friday as window dressing started,” Luis A. Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a text message yesterday.

Justino B. Calaycay, Jr., senior research analyst at Philstocks Financial, Inc., said, “even as the index has consistently climbed in the last six days, it feels like the market is just idling.”

“Eagle Cement [Corp.]’s debut didn’t seem to have sparked as much as previous listing have, casting some aspersions on Cebu Landmasters’ turn at the stage on Friday. Nevertheless, the stock’s performance in the first few days or even weeks are no indication of the prospects, nor does it fully reflect the fundamentals, yet, clouded in part by the emotions of the day. The market in general is still lacking in stronger catalysts and nothing big is expected this week,” Mr. Calaycay said in a report.

He said share prices are “seen to continue moving in the current sideways with a positive bias trend.”

Summit Securities, Inc. President Harry G. Liu said the market is “still in consolidation.”

“[The] market is still waiting for more new developments but is still looking good,” he said via text.

Sectoral indices ended mixed. Property stocks were the top gainers, with the counter going up by 1.44% or 52.25 points to 3,679.35. Financials gained 0.41% or 7.99 points to 1,945.33, and industrials rose 0.03% or 3.76 points to 11,109.71. Meanwhile, holding firms posted a decrease of 30.21 points or 0.38% to 7,873.94 to lead losers. The mining and oil subindex also eased by 25.99 points or 0.20% to 12,544.77, while services declined 2.44 points or 0.14% to 1,681.47.

Foreign funds returned to the market, posting a net buying position of P674.04 million on Monday, a reversal of Friday’s net foreign selling of P109.65 million.

Value turnover reached P8.60 billion with 1.11 billion shares changing hands, up slightly from the previous session’s P8.09 billion.

Advancers and decliners were tied at 95 apiece yesterday, while 54 names closed flat.

Regina Capital’s Mr. Limlingan said as the US will still be on holiday today, “we will be tracking regional markets to get the directions in the particular released its household spending, unemployment rate and retail sales.”

He said the PSEi’s support is still at 7,720, while resistance is at 7,900.