Index to remain within range

MANILA, Philippines -  The stock market is expected to trade within range this week as investors keep a watchful eye on developments abroad, analysts said.

All eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve meeting this week, particularly on the tone for future rate hikes, traders said over the weekend.

Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Banco do Oro, said last week’s close at 7,146.27 continues to suggest the market to remain range bound between the 7,000 and 7,400 level in the near term.

“A break below 7,000 could call for further losses toward the 6,800 to 6,850 levels in the near term,” Ravelas said.

Last week, the market barometer fell by 1.36 percent of week-on-week to 7,146.27 ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week.

The US Fed is widely expected to raise rates and fund managers have already priced-in the possibility of three quarters rate hike.

What investors would also be looking at during this week’s meeting is the extent at which FOMC officials view the pace of US economic growth, starting with labor data expansion.

“Although US President Trump’s administration has yet to unveil its economic package, the investing community will continue to be on a wait-and-see stance, as fiscal stimulus measures are announced. If this view is supported, we may see the greenback strengthening with peer currencies on the reverse side. Most might also track local monetary authorities’ revised stance on borrowing costs and its effect on listed companies’ earnings growth,” online portal 2TradeAsia.com said.

Also last week, the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc., participated in the global “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” initiative in celebration of the International Women’s Day.

Over 40 stock exchanges worldwide took part in this event, which is now on its third year.

The 2017 event series has the theme “Women at Work” to highlight the role of and opportunity for business of women.

PSE chairman Jose Pardo said during the bell-ringing event last week the PSE is considering requiring all IPO applicants to have at least one female member of the board.

“At the PSE, we are fortunate to deal with many women leaders across our wide stakeholder base, including listed companies and trading participants. We have witnessed in many ways how we have progressed within this constituency in promoting gender equality in the corporate world. We realize, however, that more work needs to be done in this respect. A recent PSE study shows that women only make up 15 percent of the total number of board of directors of listed companies,” Pardo said.

“On the part of the PSE, one of the things we are considering is to require all IPO-applicants to have at least one female member of the board. We hope that this initiative can help further the advocacy for gender equality,” he added.

The “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality” event series is a partnership of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative together with the UN Global Compact, UN Women, IFC, Women in ETFs and the World Federation of Exchanges to raise awareness about the opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.