Slippery 6,600 a make or break for PH stocks

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) pushed higher during the second week of the year as large caps advanced following mixed 2023 inflation readings in the Philippines and overseas.

The PSEi added 0.20 percent to 6,643.18, as average daily volumes tilted higher while net foreign purchases for the week hit P2.6 billion.

“Any sustained breach above 6,600 levels could potentially retest the 6,700 levels, particularly the high of 6,698.41 posted on July 25, 2023, which is the next important gateway prior to further upside potential towards the 7,000 levels in the coming weeks/months,” Michael Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said on Saturday.

He pegged the 6,500 to 6,390 area as minor support levels for the PSEi.

The past week saw several corporate developments and a high-level cabinet reshuffle after Malacañang announced that Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto will assume the role of Finance Secretary, replacing Benjamin Diokno, who will return to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as a member of the Monetary Board.Converge ICT Solutions and DITO Telecommunity also signed a deal to share infrastructure assets, raising competition against incumbents PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom.

“This should be generally positive for both telcos, especially for DITO customers as this should immediately improve their network coverage and reliability. Likewise, for [Converge], this should also increase their utilization rates for their excess capacity,” said Adrian Yu, head of institutional sales at stockbrokerage house COL Financial Group. INQ