Maniolas

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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) breezed through its 23rd record close of the year as it positioned itself less than a hundred points shy of the 8,000 mark yesterday. With one more trading session left before heading to the Holy Week break, the PSEi climbed 0.52 percent or 41.08 points to surge to its fifth consecutive winning streak at 7,940.49. After touching 8,000 mark on Monday, the index retested the level yesterday but failed to surpass the mark this time around. “The market continued to take its cue from the US after personal income and outlays rose 0.4 percent in February versus plus 0.3 percent estimates,” said Jason T. Escartin, investment analyst at F Yap Securities. Aside from the rise in US stocks, Alex Tiu said yesterday’s rise was also due to window dressing and overall rise in US stocks,” AB Capital Securities Inc. analyst Alex Tiu added. Asian stocks were generally higher as it took its cue from an overnight Wall Street rally. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The Dow and S&P 500 added more than one percent each.  Local counters were mixed at three apiece. Leading those in the green were property firms which climbed 1.60 percent or 50.28 points while mining and oil firms captained those in the red after losing 1.51 percent or 237 points. Tiu said the mining counter was pushed down by lower nickel prices. Market breadth was negative as decliners crushed advancers, 109 to 80, Read More …

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The stock market touched the 8,000 level for the first time today as investors cheered the drop in crude prices. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index skyrocketed to as high as 8,007.98 before profit takers started trimming down the gains. By the final bell, the local barometer was up by 0.27 percent or 21.45 points to 7,899.41. On the other hand, the broader all-share index gained 0.08 percent or 3.81 points to 4,550.21. Trading volume reached 1.05 billion shares worth P9.51 billion ($212.29 million) with 106 stocks declining, 74 advancing, and 47 unchanged. Of the six counters, only the mining and oil and the property sector bucked the trend. Online brokerage 2TradeAsia.com said participants cheered the latest overnight drop in crude prices. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Brent crude oil was down 47 cents to 55.94 US dollars a barrel as Iran and world powers discuss a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program that could result in increase in Iranian oil. “This marks the 23rd all-time record this year out of 58 sessions so far. Thus the PSEi laid to rest all doubts on whether it could hit 8,000 this year but does raise the question of whether it can be sustained,”  analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said. Stocks in the 30-company index closed mixed. Investors picked up shares of Ayala Corp., SM Investments, Corp., and Globe Telecom, Inc. but sold down Megaworld Corp. and Alliance Global Group, Inc. 

MANILA, Philippines – Petron, the country’s largest oil refiner and retailer, is aiming to boost its market share on the back of dwindling oil prices. Petron senior vice president and chief finance officer Emmanuel Erana told The STAR in an interview last week on the sidelines of Latham & Watkins annual investment conference that the oil firm sees its market share shooting up this year as declining oil prices in the world market are expected to take its toll on the small players. “The last nine months also tested the resiliency of new players. The continuous falling prices are very costly for them. It is something that they’re not built for. Because for them, they’re supposed to make money out of the basic business that ‘you’re in, you’re out’ fast. They have a two-week inventory period and for the last nine months that has been proving to be disastrous for them. So naturally, they’ll slide back,” Erana said. Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that Petron’s overall market share in the first half of 2014 stood at 37 percent, the largest among all players. Together with other oil majors Chevron Philippines and Pilipinas Shell, the Big Three cornered 71.1 percent of the market. The independent players, meanwhile, which include smaller retailers such as Phoenix Petroleum, PTT Philippines Corp., Total Philippines and Seaoil Corp., among others, captured the remaining 28.9 percent of the market. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1  “At the end of the day, Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Profits of Henry Sy-led Belle Corp. slipped by nearly a third last year due to lower non-recurring gains. In a regulatory filing, the listed company said consolidated net income decreased 30 percent to P2.56 billion last year from P3.64 billion in 2013. Belle said the decline was brought about by the P1.5 billion in higher net non-recurring gains booked in 2013. “Excluding non-recurring items, Belle’s consolidated net income would have increased by approximately P 464 million from P572 million in 2013 to P1.04 billion in 2014,” the firm said. Belle said it was able to achieve record operating revenues of P3.16 billion in 2014, 21 percent higher than the operating revenues in 2013 of P2.62 billion. With the increase in revenues, Belle said recurring operating earnings last year rose 62 percent to P1.4 billion from P857 million the previous year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The company’s operating growth in 2014 was attributable to higher revenue from its lease of the City of Dreams Manila property to Philippine entities controlled by Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (MCE), higher income from sales of real estate and increased income from its listed subsidiaries — Premium Leisure Corp. (PLC) and Pacific Online Systems Corp.,” Belle said. Belle’s principal assets include land and buildings located at Pagcor Entertainment City in Parañaque City which are being leased on a long-term basis to MCE. The firm’s property, which has a size of 6.2 hectares and more than 30 hectares in Read More …