Philippines share prices will remain subdued with investors stuck in a bearish mood due to pessimistic sentiment abroad, dealers said Friday. Not even favourable local corporate earnings or the Philippine central bank's decision on Thursday to cut key interest rates by another 25 basis points is expected to lift sentiment, they said.
"Certainly there are domestic concerns but what is really driving the bearish sentiments are the movements outside," said James Lago of Westlink Global Equities.
"Anything in the corporate earnings is just discounted," he warned. For the week to November 16, the composite index fell 109.7 points or 2.8 percent to 3,598.96 points. Average daily turnover rose to 4.16 billion shares worth 4.98 billion pesos (114.7 million dollars) from 3.28 billion shares worth 5.28 billion pesos in the previous week.
Although Lago would not predict how low the market could fall, he warned that "certainly the 3,500 level is a very key psychological level." "The selling pressure will continue especially if Wall Street slides again and there would be more downbeat comments about the US economy," said Ron Rodrigo of DBP-Daiwa Securities.
"Even with the central bank rate cut, investors could not be swayed because US stocks are slumping. So unless there is a turnaround in sentiment abroad, the market is likely to consolidate," said Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities.
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