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‘Ghost Month’ in August affecting stocks?

Is the “Ghost Month” to blame for the recent rollercoaster ride in stock markets around the world?

During the first two weeks of August, stock markets worldwide had a freefall, went back up again, slid again, then back up once more. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), for example:

plummeted 4.31% on August 4 after credit rating agency S&P downgraded the United States
declined 5.5% more on August 8
bounced back 3.98% on August 9
fell another 4.6% on August 10
but rose 3.9% on August 11

And it’s probably just starting.

Philippine stocks slump 4%; down for 3rd straight day

Philippine stocks took a heavy beating yesterday, with the index dropping for the 3rd straight day to close at 4,157.03.

On Tuesday, August 10, the 30-company benchmark index Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) tumbled 4.02% from Monday’s trading, the biggest drop since March 16, 2009 when the index nosedived 4.66% to 1,769.67.

Stocks are already down 9.5% from the peak registered on August 1 this year, and the bourse’s performance is crawling back to negative territory year-to-date with the PSEi dropping 1% from the start of 2011.

Is PLDT owned by foreigners?

The recent Supreme Court ruling ordering the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to look into the extent of foreign ownership in PLDT raises a very important question: Did the telecommunications giant violate the Philippine Constitution with regard to the maximum 40% foreign equity rule?

In layman’s terms, the Supreme Court is basically asking the SEC: is PLDT owned by Filipinos or by foreigners?

PSE Index (PSEi) composition, as of May 2011

Back in 2007, we wrote about the revised criteria of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) with regard to companies that will be included in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) or Philippine Composite Index.

The PSEi, formerly known as the Phisix, is composed of 30 publicly-listed Philippine stocks selected to represent general movement of market prices and is generally regarded as one of the indicators of the general state of the Philippine economy.

(Update: New PSEi composition, as of September 2011)

Catholic Church has billions invested in BPI, Philex, San Miguel

For most of us, it’s a given that the Catholic Church is rich. Obvious proof of that are their sprawling acres of land, large Church-owned structures and buildings, and millions of pesos of cash collected from mass goers every week.

What a lot of people do not know, though, is that part of the Church’s wealth is its multi-billion peso investments in several Philippine companies. In fact, reports submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) show that the Church and affiliate Catholic groups are top stockholders in companies such as the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Philex Mining Corporation (PX), San Miguel Corporation (SMC), Ayala Corporation (AC), and Phinma Corporation (PHN), among others.

Philippine Church invested in banks, mining, construction, etc.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, for example, owns more than 300 million shares of BPI and is the bank’s 4th largest owner.

How much are these shares worth? As of May 2011, this is valued at more than P17 billion. Yes, that’s seventeen billion pesos, with a B.

(Stocks Tutorial) What are Stock Rights?

I recently subscribed to the 1:2 Stock Rights Offering of Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC). As a current stockholder, I was entitled to one (1) rights share for every two (2) common shares owned.

The rights offering was RLC’s way of raising additional capital. By issuing up to 1.364 billion common shares at P10 per share, the company is expected to raise as much as P13.6 billion.

What are Stock Rights?

Stock rights are basically the right to purchase additional shares of the company. This right is only given to existing shareholders as of the ex-date, and is not available to non-stockholders. It is a company’s way of raising additional capital. In the case of RLC, the company said proceeds will be used for land acquisition, project construction and development, possible international expansion and other general corporate purposes.

PSE stock performance in 2010

Philippine stocks rallied again in 2010, with the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closing at 4,201.14 during the last trading day on December 30, 2010 — up 37.6% from the closing index in 2009.

This means that a P100,000 stock investment at the start of 2010 is already worth P137,600 by the end of the year.

2009 Best Stock Markets in the World

The year 2009 ended profitably for stock traders around the world. Although Philippine investors were already jubilant with the Philippine Stock Exchange‘s 63% gain in 2009, this was still just an “average” performance compared to the best-performing stock markets in the world.

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