SHARES started the week in the green after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revised its first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate to show a softer contraction in the period, fueling optimism ahead of the release of second quarter data on Tuesday.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 92.66 points or 1.41% to close at 6,632.57 on Monday, while the all shares index gained 38.45 points or 0.94% to end at 4,093.87.
“The market breached the 6,600 level as [the] first quarter GDP contraction was revised to -3.9% from -4.2%, and on optimism ahead of the release of [the] second-quarter GDP data [on Tuesday],” AB Capital Securities, Inc. Junior Equity Analyst Lance U. Soledad said in a Viber message.
“The country is expected to come out of recession,” he added.
The economy shrank by 3.9% in the first quarter, a softer contraction versus the 4.2% previously reported, based on revised data released by the PSA on Monday.
The PSA will report second-quarter GDP data on Tuesday. A BusinessWorld poll of 20 analysts yielded a median estimate of a 10.6% growth print for the April to June period, mainly due to base effects from the 17% contraction a year earlier. If realized, this would mark the country’s exit from recession following five straight quarters of economic contraction.
“Sentiment for most large cap stocks appeared positive as fund flows continued to be robust in the upcoming inclusions to the PSEi,” China Bank Securities Corp. Research Associate Zoren Philip A. Musngi said in an e-mail.
“There will also be an MSCI rebalancing announcement later this week, and some investors appear to be positioning ahead of this,” Mr. Musngi said.
Last week, the Philippine Stock Exchange announced the inclusion of AC Energy Corp. and Converge Information and Communications Technology Solutions, Inc. in the 30-member PSEi starting Aug. 16. The two firms will replace DMCI Holdings, Inc. and Emperador, Inc. in the benchmark index.
All sectoral indices closed in the green on Monday except for mining and oil, which dropped 181.48 points or 1.86% to 9,537.77.
Meanwhile, property went up 108.71 points or 3.65% to 3,086.53; holding firms rose 99.76 points or 1.52% to 6,637.13; industrials improved by 62.32 points or 0.67% to finish at 9,358.26; financials increased 3.54 points or 0.24% to 1,435.32; and services inched up by 0.57 point or 0.03% to 1,640.55.
Value turnover went down to P6.4 billion with 1.78 billion issues traded on Monday, from the P6.95 billion with 1.35 billion shares that switched hands on Friday.
Advancers outperformed decliners, 115 against 91, while 34 names closed unchanged.
Net foreign selling inched up to P169.17 million on Monday from the P167.24 million logged on Friday. — K.C.G. Valmonte