Market to take cue from poll conduct, outcome

MANILA, Philippines — With the hotly contested elections happening, share prices will likely take their cue on the overall conduct and initial result of the polls as they resume trading tomorrow.

Analysts said for this week, Monday’s elections and the counting of votes after will take center stage as investors keep a close watch on the results, awaiting a credible and clean outcome.

As the country’s presidential, national, and local elections happen today, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) will tread on a tight range, likely staying below the 7,000 mark.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort sees major support for the index at 6,650 to 6,750, and immediate resistance at 6,895 to 6,955.

For its part, Unicapital Securities Research said rising oil prices would remain a factor as prices have remained elevated, with the Russia-Ukraine conflict still ongoing, causing commodity supply disruptions throughout the global economy.

On Friday, the PSEi snapped a two-day rally to fall down by 109.22 points or 1.6 percent to close at 6,759.90, hovering at eight-month lows, which was similar to the recent declines in the US stock markets.

Week on week, the PSEi still gained by 28.65 points or 0.4 percent, which Ricafort said was somewhat a defiance of the slight weekly declines on Wall Street.

“The election campaign led to increased election-related spending, thereby could have boosted economic/business activities and could have also benefited some listed companies in terms of higher sales, net income, and valuations,” Ricafort said.

Other major leads and developments for the market this week include the partial and unofficial results while anticipating the winning Philippine president; the first quarter economic growth due to be released on May 12; the trend in global oil and commodity prices, which has eased by about $21 per barrel from the peak of $130.50 per barrel posted on March 7 and the developments on the still ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

For investors, Unicapital advised short term investors to trade cautiously on rallies. For long term investors, however, it said the current valuations provide attractive opportunities to accumulate.