PHILIPPINE stocks could head higher this week as investors await fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 corporate earnings, upcoming foreign direct investment (FDI) data and movements in the peso.
Analysts said the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) could test technical resistance at 6,400, supported by positive macroeconomic indicators and the prospect of further policy easing by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The benchmark index closed slightly higher at 6,390.91 last Friday and ended up 0.98 percent week on week. Year to date, the PSEi is up 5.58 percent.
Friday’s session, analysts said, was supported by hopes of another BSP rate cut next week and news of within-target inflation, with the index snapping a sideways trend to finish in positive territory.
Japhet Tantiangco, research manager at Philstocks Financial Inc., said the market remained attractive from a valuation standpoint, with a price-to-earnings ratio below both its historical and regional averages.
He noted that a stronger peso — the currency strengthened by 10 and half centavos on Friday to P58.585 to the dollar — could provide additional support to equities.
Tantiangco said PSEi continued to face the 6,400 resistance line but remained above its 10-day, 50-day, and 200-day exponential moving averages (EMAs).
The formation of a golden cross between the 50-day and 200-day EMAs signals a potential medium- to long-term uptrend, he noted, although the index would need to break past 6,400 and then test its recent peak at 6,494 to confirm the trend.
Major support was seen at 6,150.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at RCBC, added that easing geopolitical tensions, benign local inflation at 2.0 percent year-on-year and returning foreign net inflows would continue to underpin market sentiment.
Investors will also watch the BSP’s next policy meeting on Feb. 19, when a quarter-point rate cut remains a possibility.
Ahead of next week’s rate-setting meeting, the central bank will release FDI data for November 2025 on Tuesday.