Sideways trading likely on shortened week

MANILA, Philippines — Stocks are expected to trade sideways with a slight upward bias to open the year on another shortened trading week.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended the trading year slightly lower last Friday at 6,528.79 points, but up by 1.91 percent week-on-week.

“The PSEi ended slightly lower on the final trading day of 2024 as investors locked in profits ahead of the long holiday break. Trading volumes were subdued, reflecting cautious sentiment with many market participants taking a wait-and-see approach,” Unicapital head of research Wendy Estacio-Cruz said.

The market is closed today until Wednesday. Trading will resume on Thursday.

For the opening week of 2025, Estacio-Cruz said the PSEi is projected to trade within the 6,400 to 6,700 range.

“Looking ahead, investors are anticipating the release of the December inflation rate on Jan. 6, which is expected to play a pivotal role in market direction at the start of 2025,” she said.

Year-on-year, the PSEi finished higher by 78.75 points or 1.2 percent from its close of 6,450.04 in 2023.

This marked the first time that the PSEi closed higher year-on-year since 2019.

Daily average value turnover reached P6.10 billion, almost flat from the P6.09 billion registered the previous year.

Domestic market capitalization at yearend jumped by 11.2 percent to P14.57 trillion compared to P13.10 trillion in 2023.

The market registered P23.18 billion worth of net foreign selling versus the P53.65 billion net foreign selling in the previous year.