PSE Index seen hitting 10,000 by 2017-18

MANILA, Philippines - The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi), the local stock baro-meter, is seen hitting the 10,000 mark by 2017, investment banker and Traders Apprentice Philippines (TAP) co-founder Tony Herbosa said in a briefing over the weekend.

“The index will go to 10,000,” Herbosa said, projecting this could happen in 2017 or 2018.

During TAP’s Overview Class on Saturday, Herbosa advised market investors that if they are investing their money in the stock market, they should remember to “cut their losses, ride and roll profits and to make sure to add to winners.”

Roy Reyes, co founder of TAP, meanwhile, said during the same briefing that historically, the stock market goes up in the first 100 days after a new president is elected into office.

He said that usually six months before elections, the market traditionally goes down, then in the first 100 days of any president in history, the market usually surges.

By then, the index could hit an all time high.

Herbosa said hitting the 10,000 mark is possible unless something severe or drastic happens along the way.

Separately, analysts said this year the index may end below the 7,300 mark.

This was way below the forecast earlier given by First Metro Investment Corp. and the University of Asia and the Pacific that the market would breach the 8,300 to 8,500 mark.

In the first quarter of the year, the PSEi tested the 8,000 mark before closing at 7,940.40. Last week, the index close at 6,867.07.

TAP is group of stock market players which continue to push for its advocacies of wealth creation and financial literary, with the aim of bringing the stock market closer to ordinary Filipinos.

TAP promotes its advocacies through its online platform on social media giant Facebook.

Herbosa said that since its inception in 2013, TAP now has close to 49,000 stock market followers and investors.

The group has been conducting seminars and events and has also expanded to discussions and trainings on asset foreclosures.

He said TAP’s advocacy is not just financial literacy, but also wealth creation.

“Literacy is not the end game. It’s the starting game and the end goal is how to get wealthy. So in TAP we try to teach the principles of wealth creation in three primary asset classes: stocks, property and art,” he said.

Commenting on TAP’s efforts, TAP follower JJ Atencio, president of 8990 Holdings, said the stock investment club promotes the same values of inclusivity and financial literacy that 8990 believes in.

“In TAP, the complicated stock market has become accessible to ordinary middle class and working Filipinos and TAP’s seminars enhance the probability of success,” he said.

Herbosa said investors must have a balance.

“The key to making wealth is not simply avoiding risk. It’s understanding risk and embracing it. To learn to fight, you have to spar a lot. For instance, if you turn over your money to UITF guys or the banks, your chance of making money short term is higher. But longer term, you will not develop the right ‘life or death’ instincts,” he said.

He also said investors must learn to embrace chaos.