DA Market Securities says PSEi to reach 7,400 by year-end

As the Philippines continues to add feathers to its cap as global institutions recognize its economic strides in the last few years, the Philippine stock market is poised to end the year at the 7,400-level, considering that more foreign investors are now placing their money in equities, a stock brokerage said Monday.

 

DA Market Securities sees the market hitting between a base and bull scenario ranging from 6,900 to 7,400, research head Nisha Alicer told reporters when the brokerage launched its online trading platform in Makati City.

 

"But we can stick to 7,000 for the base case scenario," she said.

 

Hitting 7,000 is "reasonable," factoring in the current price-to-earnings ratio of the market, chief market strategist Aldo Claparols said in the same briefing.

 

"Price-to-earnings... we're kind of high, but high price earnings factor in future growth... and also we're an emerging market and there's a premium on emerging market," he said.

 

The upcoming World Economic Forum and the credit rating upgrade will also add to the positive sentiment in the local stock market, president Nestor Aguila said.

 

"In the past, we were trying to bring in investors... It was very difficult. But now they're coming in," he said.

 

"And that's very positive for everyone: the government, the private sector, the average investors," he added, citing WEF event this later week.

 

The country is hosting the WEF on East Asia for the first time.

 

Last week, Sushant Palakurthi Rao, WEF senior director and head of Asia, said the Philippines has achieved a turnaround in its economic story under the Aquino administration, from having been labeled as the "Sick Man of Asia," attracting the attention of global leaders.

 

Weeks before the global meeting, debt watcher Standard & Poor's Ratings Services upgraded the country's foreign currency and peso debts a notch above the coveted credit rating – a year after it raised the Philippine sovereign debt to investment grade.

 

Last year, the country also received an investment grade rating from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s, while Japan Credit Rating Agency raised the Philippine sovereign rating by two notches above investment grade. – VS, GMA News