PSEi ends flat as investors await economic reports

LOCAL EQUITIES ended flat on Monday as investors took a waitand-see approach pending the release of several key economic reports this week.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) edged down 0.02% or 2.08 points to close at 7,817.31 yesterday.

The broader all-shares index also dropped 0.16% or 7.85 points to end at 4,660.44.

“Philippine shares traded with some precaution as this week marks the release of key economic data points,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile phone message on Monday.

The government is set to release July inflation data today. On Thursday, it will release the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) report ahead of a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas meeting in the afternoon.

Although traders have been factoring a 50-basis-point interest hike from the central bank as it reviews policy this week, Miko A. Sayo, trader at AP Securities, Inc., said the economic reports will help determine the market by the end of the week.

“I’m not sure how the market will react…but we expect inflation will be high again,” Mr. Sayo said in a phone interview yesterday.

He added that the index has been recovering in recent weeks and has managed to hover in the high side in short-term trading.

“Momentum has slowly returned and whether it will continue may be decided by the end of the week,” Regina Capital’s Mr. Limlingan said.

Counters were mixed on Monday. Holding firms dropped 0.77% or 60.41 points to 7,789.55 and services declined 0.13% or 2.06 points to 1,502.80.

Meanwhile, property climbed 0.88% or 33.34 points to 3,802.55; mining and oil rose 0.36% or 37.55 points to 10,335.60; industrials went up 0.35% or 39.17 points to 10,958.30; and financials rose 0.33% or 6.39 points to 1,891.40.

Foreigners dumped shares anew, with net selling logged at P86.96 million, a reversal from Friday’s net purchases worth P6.65 million.

Value turnover dropped slightly to P5.60 billion from Friday’s P5.72 billion after some 2.07 billion issues changed hands.

Losers outpaced advancers, 117 to 92, while 36 issues remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, other Southeast Asian markets traded higher in line with broader Asian peers yesterday, with Indonesia camping near a two-month peak boosted by robust GDP figures.

Asia shares ex-Japan rose 0.9% in early trade after the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) on Friday raised the reserve requirement on foreign exchange forward positions, making it more expensive to bet against the Chinese currency.

Although the PBoC had implemented a 20% reserve in 2015, it had failed to stop the RMB from weakening further. “It is a strong signal. China will not hesitate to intervene in the market should the currency depreciation risk the financial stability,” OCBC Bank said.