Shares inch up on window dressing, lack of leads

LOCAL SHARES inched up on Tuesday on window dressing ahead of the year’s close and amid lack of fresh leads.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed by 23.87 points or 0.36% to close at 6,564.90 on Monday, while the broader all shares index rose by 8.95 points or 0.26% to 3,441.42.

“Local shares moved sideways on thin volume today. Share prices’ average true range narrowed to month lows due to the lack of fresh leads and with most money managers,” AB Capital Securities, Inc. Vice President Jovis L. Vistan said in a Viber message on Tuesday.

“Positive bias was aided by year-end window dressing. Upside was capped by concerns on the inflation report next week,” Mr. Vistan added.

Headline inflation rose to 8% last month from 7.7% in October and 3.7% in November 2021. The November inflation print was the fastest in 14 years or since the 9.1% seen in November 2008.

For the first 11 months, inflation averaged 5.6%, faster than the 4% in the same period a year ago. This was well above the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2-4% target for the year but was still below its full-year forecast of 5.8%.

The BSP earlier said they expect inflation to rise slightly in December due to higher food prices caused by recent typhoon and increased liquefied petroleum gas prices and electricity rates.

“Philippine shares kicked off the final week of the year on a positive note, as funds begin the window dressing period,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a Viber message.

“US stock futures also rose on Monday night as investors head into the final trading days of 2022,” Mr. Limlingan added.

US stock futures and the S&P 500 e-minis inched up by 0.6%, indicating the market is set to rise as traders return to their terminals on Tuesday after the Christmas holiday, Reuters reported.

Back home, most sectoral indices closed higher, except financials, which declined by 8.94 points or 0.54% to close at 1,631.77, and mining and oil, which inched down by 0.20 points to 10,559.46.

Meanwhile, property climbed by 26.29 points or 0.91% to at 2,902.63; holding firms added 57.55 points or 0.89% to close at 6,501.19; services increased by 1 point or 0.06% to 1,607.33; and industrials inched up by 4.38 points or 0.04% to end at 9,365.09.

Value turnover declined to PHP 2.89 billion on Tuesday with 1.06 billion shares changing hands from PHP 3.14 billion with 1.91 billion issues traded on Friday.

Advancers outnumbered decliners, 97 versus 88, while 42 names closed unchanged.

Net foreign selling declined to PHP 47.22 million on Tuesday from PHP 248.14 million on Friday.

Philippine financial markets were closed on Monday due to a special non-working holiday.

AB Capital Securities’ Mr. Vistan placed the PSEi’s support at 6,440 and resistance at 6,600. — J.I.D. Tabile