Investors dig in ahead of State of the Nation speech

THE MAIN INDEX slipped on Monday as investors positioned their bets ahead of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s State of the Nation address (SONA).

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index ( PSEi) slipped by 22.81 points or 0.3% to end at 7,376.8 while the broader all-shares index added 6.62 points or 0.14% to finish at 4,473.32.

“Investors placed bets ahead of the SONA on varied expecta-

tions of what President Duterte is expected to tackle later this afternoon. Value turnover was still weak… it picked up when compared against the last few trading days,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message on Monday.

Value turnover accelerated to P5.08 billion after some 657.02 million issues switched hands, compared with 568.58 million worth P3.43 billion on Friday.

Papa Securities Corp. trader Gabriel Jose F. Perez said value

turnover would have amounted to P4 billion, were it not for P1.1 billion in block sales.

Without the block sales, Mr. Perez said, “PSEi ended the day just 22.81 points down… as investors anticipated President Duterte’s SONA.”

“The hesitation was felt throughout as the index ended with a low value turnover of only P4.0 billion,” he said in an e-mail.

Regina Capital’s Mr. Limlingan noted that investors also digested the release of data on the country’s budget deficit, which widened

to P193 billion last semester after registering some P54.3 billion for the month of June alone. The January-June deficit is 27% short of program.

Sectoral indices were equally split between those that gained and losers. Industrials led the day’s gains with an uptick of 104.82 points or 0.99% to finish at 10,638.66, followed by mining and oil which increased by 45.99 points or 0.47% to 9,742.74 and financials which went up by 4.08 points or 0.22% to close at 1,836.31.

The three other sub- indices that lost consisted of property which gave up 25.14 points or 0.68% to 3,631.88, services which slumped by 6.62 points or 0.45% to 1,441.57 and holding firms which dipped by 19.49 points or 0.27% to 7,151.92.

Foreigners turned buyers, with net inflows of P195.99 million versus net sales of P445.20 million on Friday.

“Notably, today’s net foreign buying figure of P196M also failed to prop up the index. Recall that previous net foreign buying

days don’t tend to last for more than a few days so we shouldn’t be immediately optimistic that the net foreign selling has already stopped,” Papa Securities’ Mr. Perez said.

Half of Monday’s 20 most active stocks finished with losses, led by the 2.48% decline in Puregold Price Club, Inc. to P45.25 apiece and PLDT, Inc.’s 2.04% drop to P1,344. The eight that gained were led by San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. (up 12.9% to P70) and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (up 4.14% to P72.90).