Index closes flat as investors await new listing

Share prices closed flat yesterday as most investors stayed out of the market while awaiting the impending listing of geothermal power producer PNOC Energy Development Corp., dealers said.

Profit-taking in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), following a rally in the past three sessions, was offset by buying interest in other stocks like property developer Megaworld Corp., they added.

The composite index slipped 0.95 points at 2,840.82 after moving between 2,823.91 and 2,843.30.

The broader all-share index however rose 2.10 points to 1,764.89.

Decliners narrowly beat gainers 51 to 48, while 50 stocks ended unchanged.

Volume traded was 1.22 billion shares worth P2.88 billion.

"The market has run out of major leads to follow and everybody’s just waiting for PNOC-EDC’s listing tomorrow," said Harry Liu of Summit Securities.

The company, a unit of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co, is scheduled to list today 14.6 billion shares including 5.2 billion shares sold at its initial public offering of P3.20, the top end of its indicated range.

Top-traded SM Investments rose P2.50 to P300 but market heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) fell P5 to P2,445.

Meralco’s A-shares, restricted to Filipinos, were down P1 at P51.50 while Meralco’s B-shares, open to all investors, retreated P1.50 to P53.50.

Megaworld added another 16 centavos to settle at P2.32 ahead of its stock rights offer, which will run for a week from Jan. 2.

Megaworld shareholders on record as of Dec. 15 may buy two rights shares for every five shares they hold at P1.83 a share.

San Miguel A-shares were steady at P66, while its B-shares fell P1 to P71.

First Gen advanced P2.50, or 4.7 percent, to P56, after climbing 4.9 percent in the last two days. Marubeni Corp.’s $3.4-billion bid for Mirant’s power plants in the Philippines could have a positive impact on First Gen’s valuation and its share price, according to Joe-an Alitagtag, analyst at Philippine Equity Partners.

"The winning bid for Mirant should have a chance of pushing up the market valuation of First Gen,’’ Alitagtag said. "First Gen should be trading above P75 a share or 14 times earnings for it to approximate the valuations implied by the winning bid.’’

Shares worth P2.89 billion were traded, 40 percent more than the six-month daily average.

Bank of the Philippine Islands gained 50 centavos, or 0.8 percent, to P63, its first gain in three days.

The central bank approved the bank’s proposed payment of a record P2.7 billion in special dividends and P2.43 billion in regular dividends, the lender said in a statement today. – AFP