Deluge of key data to decide PSEi fate this week

Investors will eye developments both at home and abroad this week as the market continues its volatile movement.

Wendy Estacio-Cruz, research head at Unicapital Securities Inc., said traders would await the release of the July inflation rate on Tuesday to gauge their next moves.

Likewise, they will look at second-quarter gross domestic product growth figures that will come out on Thursday.

Analysts said inflation likely eased to a six-year low in July, while the Philippine economy may have picked up to 5.6 percent from 5.4 percent in the first quarter.

Cruz sees the index moving within the 6,200 to 6,500 range this week.

Apart from domestic data, traders are also waiting whether US President Donald Trump would make new moves related to the global trade war.

Trump said new tariffs would be in place by Aug. 7 from his previous Aug. 1 deadline.

“The markets are still on a wait-and-see mode if Trump would be willing to compromise and settle for lower negotiated tariffs during the trade talks,” said Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

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The Philippines was levied a 19-percent import tax on goods bound for America, down by only 1 percentage point from 20 percent despite President Marcos’ efforts to negotiate with Trump.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) closed last week lower by 1.7 percent to 6,306.13, mostly because of tariff anxiety and the peso’s depreciation.

The local currency suffered its steepest single-day fall in nearly three years on July 31 after the US Federal Reserve opted to keep interest rates unchanged.

Data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed that the peso closed the trading day at 58.31 against the greenback, shedding 74 centavos.