Monday, June 28, 2004

June 28: Philippine Stock Market Review

Lethargy could possibly be the appropriate word to describe today’s activities. Significantly reduced volume and mixed market breadth, despite a slight uptick recorded in the Phisix (.05%), reflected selective buying by local investors, as foreign capital recorded an outflow of a paltry P 5.580 million.

Among the blue chips Ayala Corp. (+3.57%), Ayala Land (+1.78%) and Bank of the Philippine Islands (+1.17%) lifted the Philippine benchmark, the Phisix, while major telecom issues PLDT (-1.31%) and Globe (-1.16%) declined on technical profit taking after last week’s blistering climb. San Miguel, SM Primeholdings and Metrobank closed neutral.

The market’s inertia could possibly be traced to the mixed performances of the US benchmarks on Friday, which sort of spilled over to the region’s bourses. As of this writing, among our neighbors, only Thailand and Singapore have manifested moderate gains, while Indonesia and Hong Kong, like our bourse, are almost unchanged. On the other hand, the bourses of Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are all modestly down.

The Asian region had an outstanding performance last week and today’s consolidation could possibly reflect a reprieve from the recent spurt. Aside, it looks as if the global markets are keeping a cautious eye/stance until June 30th when US Federal Reserve is expected to initiate the restoration of its Fed rates to ‘normal’ levels.

No comments: