Stocks are expected to move sideways this week, as investors remain on the sidelines waiting for fresh leads on the economy, but analysts said the passage of the tax reform program later this year will likely push up the benchmark index to 8,200 points. BDO Unibank Inc. chief investment strategist Jonathan Ravelas said the bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index would likely continue to trade between 7,700 and 8,000 levels this week amid lack of fresh leads. Analysts said investors would likely to take hints from President Rodrigo Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address before the end of the month. First Metro Investments Corp. assistant vice president Cristina Ulang said the index would likely hit a high of 8,200 before the end of the year, on expectations the proposed tax reform program would be be passed by September. The PSEi last week gained 0.6 percent to close at 7,889.33 on July 7, while the broader all-share index rose 0.9 percent to 4,735.12.

Source: The Standard July 09, 2017 11:48 UTC