PSEi flat as market awaits Q3 GDP figures

Philippine share prices ended in the green for the sixth straight session on Monday, albeit relatively flat, as the investors await local economic data later this week.

The local stock barometer gained 0.16 points or 0.002% to 6,685.85 at the closing bell, while the broader All Shares index climbed 16.40 points or 0.42% to 3,961.12.

Monday's performance came as the market digested results of the latest US polls, and ahead of the release of the third-quarter economic data release on Tuesday.

"Local shares closed flat after trading negative for most of the session as investors waited for 3Q GDP and the latest MSCI rebalancing results, continued to assess the implications of the election results, and weighed a surge in COVID-19 cases," Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a mobile message.

Democrat Joseph Biden Jr. was declared president-elect of the United States over the weekend, after his victory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania put him over the threshold of 270 electoral college votes needed to claim the presidency.

President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo already congratulated the incoming US president.

Meanwhile, the country's third-quarter economic data is scheduled to be released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, November 10. Economists are projecting better figures than the downward-revised -16.9% in the second quarter.

"It is expected that 3Q GDP will still contract year-on-year but improve after a historical 16.9% year-on-year contraction in the previous quarter," said Limlingan.

More than 1.713 billion shares, valued at P8.019 billion, changed hands. Advancers led decliners, 131 to 83, and 43 issues were unchanged.—AOL, GMA News