Poll jitters, external factors keep index in red

MANILA, Philippines - Pre-election jitters and external factors kept share prices in negative territory yesterday, the last day of the trading week prior to Monday’s presidential and national elections.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) eased 7.88 points, or 0.11 percent, to settle at 6,991.87.

The broader All Shares index, however, manage to inch up 0.94 points or 0.03 percent to close at 4,163.06.

Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital, said pre election jitters affected the market.

The business community has repeatedly voiced out concerns over a Rodrigo Duterte presidency given his failure to outline his economic policies. The former mayor is leading in the pre-election opinion polls.

But Limlingan said external factors also weighed down yesterday’s trading session.

“Philippine markets closed before a US jobs report….data is expected to show that employers added 200,000 new workers to US non-farm payrolls in April, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, with the jobless rate edging down a tenth of a percentage point to 4.9 percent or close to Federal Reserve’s estimates of full employment,” Limlingan said.

He said rallies above the 200-day moving average would allow recovery to as high as 7,100 but advised selling positions until prices stabilize.

Value turnover reached P7.27 billion as decliners outnumbered advancers, 95 to 80 while 47 stocks were unchanged.