PHL shares trade on mixed note as Q4 GDP misses expectations

Philippine shares traded on a mixed note in the early trading Tuesday as the fourth quarter economic growth failed to wow the market.

“I think, short-term, we will be seeing investors cashing in on gains after it missed analysts estimates of 6.7 percent,” IB Gimenez Securities Inc. head of research Joylin Telagan said.

As of 10:56 a.m., the PSEi was down 9.58 points or 0.11 percent at 8,941.04. The broader All Shares was up 4.71 points or 0.09 percent at 5,177.72.

Renz Cruz, analyst at Regina Capital Development Corp., said the market is expected to go down throughout the session.

“We can expect some downward bias, at least for the day, as the government gave an impression it can reach around 7 percent and third quarter’s GDP (gross domestic product) was revised to 7 percent as well,” said Renz Cruz, analyst at Regina Capital Development Corp.

The Philippine economy grew by 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter, driven mainly by the industry sector to lift the full-year economic growth to 6.7 percent, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.

This compares with the upwardly revised 7.0 percent GDP growth in the third quarter of 2017 and 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The fourth quarter GDP results fall within the 6.7- to 6.9-percent forecast of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia for the full-year 2017.

“But overall, impact might be short and minimal on the market as full-year results still fall within government target,” Cruz said. —VDS, GMA News