PSEi drops to 7,900 ahead of GDP data
Credit to Author: ANGELICA BALLESTEROS, TMT| Date: Fri, 03 May 2019 16:29:04 +0000
INVESTORS resorted to last-minute profit-taking on Friday, pulling the index back to the 7,900 level while repositioning portfolios ahead of economic growth and inflation results.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped by 0.42 percent or 33.59 points to close at 7,967.98. The wider All Shares, meanwhile, dipped by 0.14 percent or 6.83 points to end at 4,906.06.
Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said market players cashed in on gains after PSEi’s close at the 8,000 territory on Thursday supported by the move of S&P Global Ratings to upgrade the country’s credit rating from “BBB” to “BBB+” with a stable outlook.
Investors also stayed on the sidelines ahead of the inflation and gross domestic product results next week, he added.
On Tuesday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) placed inflation bets between 2.7 percent and 3.5 percent, as higher domestic oil prices and electricity rates may have provided an upward pressure to prices, but may have been offset by the drop in rice prices.
This compared with the 3.3 percent recorded in March.
Limlingan has said he expected consumer prices last month to have settled at 2.9 percent.
Also on Friday, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the economy likely grew over 6 percent in the first quarter on the back of election spending, as well as construction, investments and manufacturing.
Official inflation and gross domestic product figures will be announced by the Philippine Statistics Authority on May 7 and 9, respectively.
Sectoral results were mixed, with the property and holding firms indices the only losers, down 1.04 percent and 0.99 percent, respectively.
More than 788 million issues were traded valued at P8.17 billion.
Market breadth remained positive, as 102 winners outmatched 100 losers, while 50 issues were unchanged.
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