Investors on sidelines ahead of inflation report
LOCAL STOCKS slipped amid tepid trades on Thursday as investors stayed mostly on the sidelines ahead of the release on Friday morning of inflation data for the month of June.
The 30-member Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped 27.76 points or 0.34% to close at 8,064.92, while the broader all-shares index slipped by 7.64 points or by 0.15% to finish at 4,931.99.
“It wasn’t a pretty day for the index as the PSEi traded flatly the entire day before even being sold down at close. Volume was also relatively low at only P5.0 billion (P4.5 billion ex-blocks),” Papa Securities Corp. Sales Associate Gabriel Jose F. Perez said in an e-mail.
“Note that this movement comes ahead of June’s inflation release tomorrow morning.”
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas expects June inflation to have settled within the range of 2.2-3%, lower than May’s actual inflation of 3.2% and June 2018’s 5.2%, while BusinessWorld’s poll of 12 economists late last week yielded a 2.9% estimate median.
AAA Southeast Equities, Inc. Research Head Christopher John Mangun also noted PSEi’s sluggish trading for the day, citing the lack of compelling leads.
“Several second liners traded more than blue-chips which indicates the intent to find opportunities which are not present in the big blues. Nothing seems to be exciting investors in this market, and we may continue to see the PSEi go lower with immediate support at 8,000,” Mr. Mangun said in an e-mail.
Four of the six sectoral indices ended in negative territory, led by holding firms that plunged 0.97% or 76.46 points to close at 7,738.01. Mining and oil slumped 0.96% or 73.28 points to finish at 7,493.31; property gave up 0.26% or 11.66 points to 4,340.34; while industrials shed 0.13% or 15.62 points to end at 11,905.54.
On the other hand, financials climbed 0.89% or 15.37 points to 1,736.48, while services added 0.24% or 4.17 points to 1,702.84.
Foreign investors turned bearish, ending Thursday with P216.68-million net sales, against the previous day’s net inflows of P273.71 million.
Trades thinned to 740.03 million shares worth P5.06 billion from Thursday’s 1.31 billion worth P7.62 billion.
Stocks that declined narrowly edged out those that gained, 94 to 92, while 57 others ended flat.
Wall Street rallied ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.67% or 179.32 points to 26,966. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.77% or 22.81 points to 2,995.82, while the Nasdaq Composite index went up 0.75% or 61.14 points to 8,170.23.
Asian markets ended mixed in the face of Wall Street’s record highs amid expectations the Federal Reserve would turn dovish, as well as lingering fears about US-China trade tensions. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX added 0.3% and 0.65%, respectively, and South Korea’s KOSPI and India’s S&P BSE SENSEX gained 0.61% and 0.11%, respectively, while the Shanghai SE Composite shed 0.33% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped by 0.21%. — Arra B. Francia