Window dressing seen lifting stocks this week

Share prices are expected to rise this week as brokers engage in last-minute window-dressing before the end of the year, dealers said.

However, investors will also be looking at the movement of overseas markets and will be watching for turmoil on the political scene locally.

For the week to Dec. 22, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) composite index rose by 2.02 points or by 0.07 percent to 2,858.31 points on Friday.

Average daily volume rose to 3.68 billion shares but average daily value slipped to P3.08 billion compared to 2.512 billion shares worth P3.1 billion in the previous week.

Ron Rodrigo of Unicapital Securities Inc. said that next week, "we are hoping there will be another round of window-dressing especially since it will be the last week of trading for 2006."

There will be no trading on Dec. 25 and 26 which are holidays.

The market will also be affected "by how the overseas markets close, especially Wall Street. There will be spillover sentiments next week."

But investors will also be wary of any sign of renewed political unrest over the long Christmas holiday, he said.

President Arroyo has been battling off opposition efforts to unseat her even while she presses for a revision of the country’s constitution which is opposed by many groups.

"If it will be a peaceful holiday for us and everything will be normal, we expect the market will be near the 2,900 level next week."

"The market will mostly likely creep higher instead of surging like it did in the past months. In our opinion, we have already seen this year’s best run up already. Key risks for next week will be the developments on the political front," said AB Capital Securities.

Investors may take profits on the slightest indication of political instability, AB Capital Securities said.

The market’s top five gainers last week were Vulcan Industrial & Mining which saw its share price jump by as much as 60.42 percent to P1.54 from P0.96 followed by United Paragon Mining rising 35.71 percent to P0.76 from P0.56, Polar Property Holdings up 32.35 percent to P1.80 from P1.36, Interport Resources (up by 30.77 percent), and Unioil Resources & Holdings (up 30.56 percent to P0.2350).

AB Capital said volatility is low as compared to the average volatility over the past sessions. Support is at 2,800 while resistance is at 2,900. – With AFP