The stock market is experiencing a decrease as investors anticipate the release of an inflation report.
On Monday, the stock market experienced a decrease as investors maintained a wary stance in anticipation of the upcoming September inflation data.
On Monday, the PSEi declined by 16.71 points or 0.26%, closing at 6,304.53, while the all shares index dropped 1.71 points or 0.05% to 3,399.12.
The PSEi closed with a decrease as multiple index names paused following last week’s surge, which was caused by the excess liquidity from the index rebalancing and MPIC’s tender offer, according to Carlos Angelo O. Temporal, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Unicapital Securities, Inc.
“According to Mr. Temporal, investors may have chosen to cash in their profits in anticipation of important inflation reports scheduled for this week.”
According to AB Capital Securities, Inc. Vice-President Jovis L. Vistan, investors were being careful and refrained from taking action until the September inflation data was released.
Mr. Vistan stated that the release of this data has the potential to impact the decisions made by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) regarding interest rates.
The September CPI will be announced on Thursday.
According to a survey conducted by BusinessWorld, 17 analysts predict a median inflation rate of 5.4% for September, which falls within the lower range of the BSP’s forecast of 5.3-6.1%.
If it occurs, the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) would increase from the 5.3% recorded in August but would still be lower than the 6.9% in September of next year.
September will also be the 18th
For the past month, inflation has remained consistently above the BSP’s annual target of 2-4%.
On Monday, most sectoral indices experienced a decrease. Mining and oil decreased by 48.71 points or 0.45%, reaching 10,745.38; property fell by 13.61 points or 0.52%, reaching 2,600; financials dropped by 9.40 points or 0.5%, reaching 1,852.38; and holding firms declined by 9.86 points or 0.16%, reaching 6,023.71.
In the meantime, the industrial sector saw an increase of 27.78 points or 0.31% to reach 8,943.44, while services also experienced a slight climb of 1.61 points or 0.1% to reach 1,509.90.
On Monday, the value of shares traded decreased to P3.86 billion, with 591.37 million shares exchanged. This is a decrease from Friday’s turnover of P13.11 billion and 1.71 billion shares.
There were 92 more advancers than decliners, with 75 decliners and 63 unchanged shares at the closing.
On Monday, there was a net foreign selling of P402 million, which is significantly lower than the P5.49 billion in net buying observed on Friday.
During the remaining days of the week, Mr. Vistan set the PSEi’s support level at 6,100 and its resistance level at 6,400.
MPIC is a major Philippine division of First Pacific Co. Ltd., headquartered in Hong Kong. The other two divisions are Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority share in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — SJT
