|
By Likha C. Cuevas Reporter
SELLING pressure hounded
Philippine stocks and the peso on Friday, as investors took to the
sidelines ahead of the release of key economic data in the United
States.
The Philippine Stock Exchange
composite index (PSEi) shed 1.56 percent, or 49.78 points, at
3,140.34. The all-shares index lost 33.65 points, or 1.64 percent,
at 2,016.80.
For the week to March 2, the
Philippine Stock Exchange composite index slipped 249.03 points, or
7.39 percent, at 3,140.34. Average daily volume rose to 17.3 billion
shares worth P6.92 billion from 7.46 billion shares and P4.62
billion in the previous week.
Fitz Aclan, chief investment
strategist for Banco de Oro Universal Bank, said that the market is
cautiously awaiting the release of the latest US economic data,
including the influential jobs figures. These data would affirm
whether or not the world’s biggest economy is slowing down.
“The China [incident] is an
isolated case,” Aclan said, referring to the Chinese stocks
sell-off that triggered the downturn across Asian equity markets.
“What is crucial right now is whether the US economy is slowing
down as this would have an impact in the Asian region,” he said.
The partial pick-up in the local
stock market on Thursday was just a reaction to the rebound in Wall
Street and China indices late Wednesday, he added.
Analysts said the Philippine
stock market would suffer extreme volatility in the next two weeks,
pending local developments.
Another analyst, Jonathan Ravelas,
said Thursday’s partial rebound was something the market
interpreted “as an opportunity to be in the market.”
“Yesterday was a bargain
hunt,” he said. “They took advantage of the technical rebound
where they locked in gains.”
At the Philippine Dealing System,
the peso dipped to 48.715 to the dollar, from Thursday’s closing
price of 49.590. Dealers blamed the local currency’s weakness on
large equity outflows and minimal inflows of overseas Filipino
worker (OFW) remittances.
“There’s a very strong buying
overnight in relation to the weakness of regional equity market[s].
The outflow of equities is strong as the stock market drops,” a
trader said.
“The central bank is buying at
48.75 to avoid further weakness of [the] peso,” another trader
said.
Next week, the local currency is
seen to drop further to a range of 48.50 to 49, before depreciating
further into the election period, traders said. In April the peso is
seen to dip to 49.50 before sliding to 50 in May.
Economists polled by The Manila
Times said the Philippine economy has strong fundamentals.
Victor Abola at the University of
Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said the economy is growing with
interest rates and inflation easing, and exports and OFW money
inflows rising.
“All of these are indication of
strong [economic] fundamentals,” he said.
He explained that the real
measure of the country’s fundamentals is the domestic output,
imports, interest rates, inflation and exports.
“We should not worry about what
happened [at the stock market last Wednesday]. It’s only a
correction [in the market],” he said.
--With Maricel E. Burgonio and Darwin G. Amojelar
|
