Top stocks for the week Range trading, bargain hunting recommended

After suffering losses last week due to fears over rising US interest rates, market analysts are taking a look at sectors that may have been oversold while waiting to see how the central bank will act to stem the peso’s fall.

Online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia.com recommends that investors “continue trading a range and check on stocks that have regressed from their highs yet possess upside potentials.”

“The property sector took the biggest hit last week due to the huge foreign outflow which means they were invested the most in that sector,” said Eagle Equities Head of Research Christopher Mangun.

He noted that, “this gives investors a perfect opportunity to pick up these issues at a lower price which we will see this week.”

Meanwhile, both COL Financial and Abacus Securities have signaled a “BUY” recommendation for Metro Pacific Investments Corporation after its subsidiary Maynilad Water Services, Inc. secured a favorable ruling from the Court of Appeals for its tariff hikes.

“MPI’s share price has declined by 24 percent during the year to date period, underperforming the PSEi which has declined by only 9.6 percent during the same period,” said COL Senior Research Manager George Ching.

He added that, “we believe that the underperformance was mainly due to regulatory concerns surrounding its key businesses (water and toll roads). However, we believe that these concerns are overblown.”

Abacus Securities also cited news that the government will address MPI and Ayala Corporation’s unsolicited proposal for the rehabilitation and takeover of the MRT-3 by the end of the year.