PSEi flat on lazy PH growth figure
Credit to Author: ANGELICA BALLESTEROS, TMT| Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2019 16:15:18 +0000
THE stock market traded sideways on Thursday before finishing slightly lower following a slower economic growth figure in the second quarter of the year.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dipped by 0.04 percent or 3.23 points to close at 7,914.16, while the broader All Shares declined by 0.19 percent or 9.09 points to finish at 4,818.32.
“Philippine second quarter GDP (gross domestic product) [came] in at 5.5 percent, which is the low-end of the consensus. However, we did not see a much of a fallout on local equities,” AAA Southeast Equities Inc. research head Christopher Mangun said.
On Thursday, the Philippine Statistics Authority said the second-quarter GDP slowed to 5.5 percent from the 5.6 percent reported in the first quarter of the year and the 6.2 percent registered in the same quarter in 2018.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Ernesto Pernia attributed the slowdown to the continuing effects of the budget delay approval coupled with the election ban.
Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas late on the same day reduced interest rates by 25 basis points (bps).
“The PSEi stay[ed] above 7,900 after the scare that we got earlier in the week when it came all the way down to 7,720 in intraday trading …. If we see a rally tomorrow (Friday), wherein it closes above 8,000, there might be hope for this market just yet,” Mangun said.
The local bourse bucked mostly a regional uptrend. Tokyo rose by 0.37 percent, Shanghai increased 0.93 percent, Hong Kong grew 0.60 percent, Seoul inched up 0.57 percent, and Jakarta was up by 0.98 percent. Only Bangkok finished in the red, down 0.60 percent.
In Manila, sectoral results were mixed, with the services and mining and oil the only gainers, up 3.06 percent and 1.50 percent, respectively.
More than 834 million issues were traded valued at P6.25 billion.
Winners led losers, 103 to 91, while 45 issues were unchanged.