UCPB Securities leads top brokers

The stock market made a record kick immediately after the Arroyo administration assumed office last month but foreign forces still dominated the action at the bourse, Philippine Stock Exchange records show.

For the month of January, nine of the 10 top brokers were foreigners but the lone local trader UCPB Securities Inc. led the entire field with 9.13 percent of the total P67-billion trades.

Backed by the biggest names in global finance, the local brokerage units of Merrill Lynch, ABN-Amro, Jardine Fleming, ING Baring, UBS Warburg, CLSA and HSBC were among the most active traders last month, combining for about 40 percent of aggregate turnover.

Last year, ING Baring Securities ranked as the most dominant brokerage house for the second straight year, ending 2000 with 9.6 percent of the total market turnover.

Foreign brokers, which traditionally corner roughly three-fourths of stock deals in the country, also expectedly landed prominently among the top 20 PSE brokers with the top six slots under their names.

This year, things have started to look up as the new administration took over, with the index surging by a record 255.13 points or 17.56 percent last Jan. 22, although the jitters associated with a new crop of politicians led the index to shed gains and consolidate within a narrow range. – Conrado Diaz Jr.