Philippine equities held their footing above the 6,000 level as caution continued to dominate trading, with analysts balancing global headwinds against pockets of domestic resilience.
The benchmark PSEi has avoided a deeper pullback, supported by late-session bargain hunting and sustained foreign net buying, but conviction remains selective.
Brokerage 2TradeAsia flagged a fragile near-term outlook, pointing to persistent global risk-off sentiment, the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish pause, and the Philippines’ softer-than-expected 3 percent fourth-quarter GDP growth. These factors, it said, are keeping investors defensive despite intermittent buying interest.
The firm warned that heightened volatility, currency swings, and strong demand for safe-haven assets could keep valuation multiples capped, as investors demand higher risk premiums. In this environment, capital preservation remains the dominant strategy, with limited appetite for aggressive positioning.
On the policy front, 2TradeAsia noted that a potentially warmer inflation print and the peso’s sensitivity to imported costs may constrain the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ ability to deliver further rate cuts.
That reduces the chances of a strong, policy-driven catalyst for equities in the short term. The brokerage expects range-bound trading, with support seen at 6,300 and 6,100 and initial resistance at 6,450.
Still, optimism has not disappeared. RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort highlighted the PSEi’s rebound to 6,328.97, keeping it comfortably above 6,000 and near multi-month highs.
He said the uptrend from November lows remains intact, supported by expectations of a possible BSP rate cut, a firmer peso, continued foreign inflows, and governance reforms.
Technical momentum, he added, favors a push toward the 6,400–6,500 zone, with key support at 5,930–6,040 to preserve the broader bullish structure.
