Stocks stay afloat amid weakness in Asia

The stock market managed to stay afloat, rising 12.48 points to settle at 8,722.70 despite a general downtrend in Asian bourses, analysts said.

The broader All Shares in- dex also managed to advance, climbing 6.59 points or 0.12 percent, to close at 5,129.79.

Most indexes ended in positive territory except for the financials and the industrial counters.

Total value turnover, meanwhile, reached P7.85 billion. Market breadth, however, was negative as decliners outnumbered advancers, 116 to 95 while 53 issues were left unchanged.

Commenting on yesterday’s session, Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital said: “Philippine markets traded slightly in the green even with not enough market making activity plus new earnings releases. After a fairly uneventful morning, European markets took another turn lower as investors turned cautious once more.”

There was also no guidance from Wall Street as US markets were closed for the holidays, he said.

Meanwhile, during the BusinessWorld’s stock market forum yesterday, COL Financial vice president and head of research April Lynn Tan said the PSEi’s correction – after reaching record highs and breaching the 9,000 mark in January – was bound to happen.

She also said inflationary risks would continue to hover and would be closely watched by investors.

Tan said the possible bottom of the correction is 7,900 to 8,100.

COL likewise revised its 2018 PSEi target to 8,750 from 9,300 after factoring in higher interest rates.