PSEi up slightly ahead of SONA
THE stock market recovered on Friday with analysts noting last-minute buying ahead of President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) inched up 0.16 percent or 11.74 points to close at 7,399.61 while the wider All Shares eked out 0.10 percent or 4.26 points to finish at 4,466.70.
“Philippine equities were bought up at closing right before the SONA on July 23, however, with some caution after President Donald Trump broke a traditional taboo … by openly criticizing the Federal Reserve for its campaign of gradual interest rate hikes,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis Limlingan said.
Trump on Thursday expressed frustration that higher interest rates could threaten US economic growth.
Papa Securities Corp. trader Gio Perez also said that investors had chosen to snap up stocks ahead of a likely boost from the SONA, which is expected to detail Duterte’s plans for the remainder of this term.
The local market’s gain was in line with other regional results. Shanghai rose by 2.0 percent, Hong Kong by 0.8 percent and Singapore added 0.4 percent. Tokyo, however, fell by 0.3 percent.
In Manila, holding firms and services were the only losers, down 0.37 percent and 0.21 percent, respectively.
More than 568 million issues valued at P3.43 billion were traded.
Winners led losers, 96 to 93, while 51 issues were unchanged.
The post PSEi up slightly ahead of SONA appeared first on The Manila Times Online.