Index to test 8,500

MANILA, Philippines — The stock market has room to move up again this week as market investors anticipate a rosy third quarter corporate earnings.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index is expected to test the 8,500 to 8,600 levels in the near term, said Jonathan Raveles, chief market strategist at Banco de Oro.

“Immediate support and resistance is seen at 8,000 and 8,500 levels, respectively,” he said.

The market barometer PSEi rallied 1.65 percent week-on-week for the second straight week to close at 8,447.94, a new record high, as investors continue to position ahead of the third quarter corporate earnings report.

Corporates are expected to be reporting on their quarterly income starting this week, which may be better than the second quarter on strong consumer spending and as the government’s infrastructure program is gaining traction.

2TradeAsia.com said the market finished on record highs last week as local investors showed continued optimism on the overall economic prospects of the country.

It noted that with P1.77 trillion covering 70 infra projects (as of September 2017) in the pipeline, 37 percent of the projects are in the implementation phase.

“The parallel indicator rests on select large-caps’ capital expenditure (capex) rollout, which is seen to grow 19 percent to P1 trillion this year. Roughly 52 percent of our sample size of 20 listed firms are within holdings, 29 percent property, eight percent power.  Such aggressiveness would likely be met by optimism, building expectations of market premium over their share price.  Offerings of infra-based funds and/or joint initiatives are among key markers for 2018, especially once final approval on fiscal budget has already been put in place,” 2Trade said.

Positive deve-lopments abroad likewise buoyed the market last week.

“On the global scene, minutes from the Fed indicated a more dovish tone on policy makers’ possible move on the Fed rate, while crude futures had a volatile session after OPEC raised its forecast for demand next year,” it said.