How PSEi member stocks performed — August 15, 2023
Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Tuesday, August 15, 2023.
Philippine stocks inch higher on bargain hunting
STOCKS edged higher on Tuesday on bargain hunting following Monday’s decline, amid lingering concerns over the world’s second-largest economy and ahead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) policy review this week.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 6.72 points or 0.1% to close at 6,335.91 on Tuesday, while the broader all shares index inched up by 2.98 points or 0.08% to end at 3,400.87.
“The market was marginally higher amidst cautious bargain hunting after China announced a surprise cut to a key policy rate in an attempt to boost its flagging economy. China cut its medium-term lending facility rate by 15 bps to 2.5%,” China Bank Capital Corp. Managing Director Juan Paolo E. Colet said in a Viber message.
“The index remains on shaky ground as many investors are worried about disappointing macroeconomic data from China and rising US yields,” Mr. Colet added.
Unicapital Securities, Inc. Senior Equity Research Analyst Carlos Angelo O. Temporal likewise said investors were cautious amid concerns over the Chinese economy and ahead of the BSP’s meeting on Thursday.
A broad array of Chinese data on Tuesday highlighted intensifying pressure on the economy from multiple fronts, prompting Beijing to cut key policy rates to shore up activity but analysts say more support is needed to revitalize growth, Reuters reported.
Less than an hour before the release of a batch of July data, China’s central bank unexpectedly cut key policy rates for the second time in three months, underlining the rapid loss of the post-COVID economic rebound that has shaken global financial markets.
Tuesday’s batch of data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, which comes on top of a raft of weak indicators from last week, showed retail sales, industrial output and investment all growing at a slower than expected pace.
Meanwhile, a BusinessWorld poll last week showed that 13 of 15 analysts see the BSP’s Monetary Board keeping its policy rate steady at a near 16-year high of 6.25% at its meeting on Thursday.
Sectoral indices increased on Tuesday, except for mining and oil, which fell by 122.89 points or 1.24% to 9,785.41, and industrials, which declined by 110.49 points or 1.23% to 8,861.77.
Meanwhile, services climbed by 15.40 points or 1% to 1,548.19; property increased by 15.65 points or 0.59% to 2,634.40; financials gained 4.77 points or 0.25% to end at 1,904.43; and holding firms inched up by 0.41 point to 5,970.40.
Value turnover surged to P24.82 billion on Tuesday with 472.74 million shares changing hands from the P4.58 billion with 716.17 million issues seen on Monday.
Decliners outnumbered advancers, 99 versus 80, while 42 names closed unchanged.
Net foreign buying stood at P107.17 million on Tuesday versus the P361.26 million in net selling recorded on Monday.
For Wednesday, Mr. Colet placed the PSEi’s immediate support at 6,300 and resistance at 6,400. — A.H. Halili with Reuters
Peso weakens further vs dollar
THE PESO declined to a fresh eight-month low against the dollar on Tuesday as the safe-haven greenback remained strong due to concerns over the Chinese economy.
The local currency closed at P56.84 versus the dollar on Tuesday, down by six centavos from Monday’s P56.78 finish, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines’ website showed.
This was the peso’s weakest close in over eight months or since its P56.94 per dollar finish on Nov. 23, 2022.
The local unit opened Tuesday’s session slightly stronger at P56.65 per dollar. Its intraday best was at P56.60, while its weakest showing was at P56.865 against the greenback.
Dollars traded dropped to $1.09 billion on Tuesday from the $1.41 billion on Monday.
The peso declined as the dollar remained among one-month highs, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort added in a Viber message.
The safe-haven dollar stayed firm against major peers while the yuan sank to a nine-month trough after China’s central bank unexpectedly cut key policy rates for a second time in three months on Tuesday to shore up the country’s sputtering economy, Reuters reported.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against six developed market counterparts including the euro and yen, was about flat at 103.08 after hitting a 1-1/2-month high at 103.46 on Monday, buoyed by demand for the safest assets following a spate of disappointing Chinese economic indicators that raised concerns about global growth.
Punctuating those worries, Chinese data on industrial output, retail sales and investment released shortly after the People’s Bank of China’s rate cut showed unexpected slowdowns.
“The peso depreciated ahead of a potentially upbeat US retail sales report tonight,” a trader added in an e-mail on Tuesday.
For Wednesday, the trader said the peso might continue to weaken as the market stays cautious ahead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ policy meeting on Thursday.
The trader expects the peso to move between P56.70 and P56.90 per dollar on Wednesday, while Mr. Ricafort sees it ranging from P56.75 to P56.95. — AMCS with Reuters
Philippines told to start drilling oil at Reed Bank amid rising tensions
A FORMER Supreme Court justice on Tuesday renewed his call for the Philippines to start oil exploration at Reed Bank in the South China Sea amid China’s alleged muscle-flexing.
The Chinese Coast Guard’s water cannon attack on Philippine resupply vessels at Second Thomas Shoal on Aug. 5 was a signal that Manila should not send survey ships to Reed Bank, ex-Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio told the ABS-CBN News Channel.
“I think that is connected,” he said. “It’s very clear that they are flexing their muscle to intimidate us not to send our survey and drilling ship to Reed Bank.”
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.
Mr. Carpio said the Philippines needs the support of its navy once it sends survey and drilling ships to the bank, a large isolated underwater volcanic mountain with a flat top northeast of the Spratly Islands. It covers an area of almost 9,000 square kilometers.
Mr. Carpio said it is urgent to get oil and gas deposits at Reed Bank amid rising energy costs and the drying up of the Malampaya natural gas field.
“We have no choice but to get the gas in Reed Bank, [otherwise] our economy will suffer tremendously,” he added.
Mr. Carpio said Manila should enter into joint patrols with the US and seek the help of the Philippine Navy when it launches exploration activities at Reed Bank.
The late President Benigno S.C. Aquino III ordered a halt on exploration activities at Reed Bank in 2012 amid rising tensions with China.
His successor, Rodrigo R. Duterte, lifted the suspension in 2020, resuming drilling activities in the disputed water, including Reed Bank, and advancing a 2018 deal with China for joint oil and gas exploration.
In March 2022, months before the end of his six-year term, the tough-talking leader said the Philippines should honor its Reed Bank exploration deal with China to avoid potential “trouble.”
In July, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spotted a swarm of Chinese vessels roaming Iroquois Reef south of Reed Bank.
“Recto Bank, a significant feature for the Philippines holding immense potential for the country’s energy security and economic growth, stands as a focal point in this rising concern over China’s recent behavior,” the AFP said.
The Philippines and US are set to hold joint patrols in the South China Sea this year.
China has been critical of the Philippines’ growing security ties with the US, calling the latter a threat to regional peace after the Marcos government gave it increased access to military bases under their 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. has said defense arrangements that the Philippines has entered into are “nobody else’s business.”
Reed Bank may hold as many as 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a 2013 report from the US Energy Information Administration.
China’s coast guard last week released a video of its ship shooting jets of water at a smaller Philippine boat near Second Thomas Shoal, saying it had handled the incident according to law.
The Aug. 5 video showed the water barely hitting the makeshift Philippine boat that was trying to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino troops stationed at the shoal.
The shoal, which the Philippines calls Ayungin, is a submerged reef in the South China Sea where a handful of its troops live on a rusty World War II-era US ship that Manila intentionally grounded in 1999 to assert it claim.
Second Thomas Shoal is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the Philippine island of Palawan and more than 1,000 kilometers from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan Island.
The Chinese Coast Guard in a website posting said the Philippine boats had entered Second Thomas Shoal illegally. It maintained “rational restraint throughout the process,” it added.
China’s Foreign Ministry has urged the Philippines to remove the outpost from the shoal. China has communicated to the Philippines about the Second Thomas Shoal issue “many times” through diplomatic channels, but its goodwill and sincerity have been ignored, it said last week.
China is willing to handle maritime issues through talks and consultations, the Foreign Ministry said.
Jonathan Malaya, spokesman of the Philippines’ National Security Council, has said the Philippines would never abandon its post at Second Thomas Shoal. — KATA
Manila open to holding joint patrols with ASEAN — DFA
THE PHILIPPINES is open to holding joint patrols with its Southeast Asian neighbors amid increasing tensions with China, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) told congressmen on Tuesday.
“If there are proposals from other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, we would be very open to consider them,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo told a House of Representatives hearing on the agency’s 2024 budget.
“In principle, we believe joint coast guard patrols will be useful,” he said. There are no discussions yet with fellow ASEAN members on potential joint patrols, he added.
Mr. Manalo said the Philippines has discussed joint patrols with the United States, Australia, Japan and China.
“We’re not in a war footing [with China],” he said. “What we are doing is trying to protect our sovereignty in our exclusive economic zone through diplomatic and peaceful means.”
He said the ASEAN would resume negotiations for a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea in Manila on Aug. 22 to 24.
“We’re still committed with China to manage our disputes peacefully,” the country’s chief envoy said, citing President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s “friend to all” foreign policy.
Mr. Manalo said filing a resolution before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to call on China to stop its harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China could politicize the situation.
Philippine senators on Aug. 1 adopted a proposal asking DFA to file the resolution at the UN.
But Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman said the Philippines does not need to seek the UN General Assembly’s help to enforce a 2016 arbitral ruling by a Hague-based court voiding China’s claim to more than 80% of the sea.
“The decision is already final and executory,” he told the hearing. “The best [thing to do] is to have a meeting with these kindred countries supporting our claim.”
The South China Sea, a key global shipping route, is subject to overlapping territorial claims involving China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Each year, trillions of dollars of trade flow through the sea, which is also rich in fish and gas.
Meanwhile, Mr. Manalo said the agency has no record of China’s claim that the Philippines had committed to pull out the BRP Sierra Madre, the country’s grounded warship at Second Thomas Shoal. “They have never given us a copy of any written agreement.”
DFA is seeking a P24.06-billion budget for next year, 15.37% higher than this year.
PHILIPPINE PIER
Meanwhile, Senator Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero proposed to build a pier and lodging structures for Filipino soldiers and fishermen at Second Thomas Shoal to increase Philippine presence there.
“If we allow ourselves to get bullied, nothing will happen,” he told CNN Philippines in Filipino. “But if we stand up to the bully, they will back off.”
Mr. Escudero said he would propose a P100-million budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways or Philippine Coast Guard to build the pier.
He said assigning the project to these “civilian agencies” would not add to the militarization of the shoal.
The structures would serve as a shelter for soldiers in the rusting World War II-ear BRP Sierra Madre and fishermen stationed in the area during bad weather, he added.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tristan Tarriela on Monday told ABS-CBN News Teleradyo China had every intent to block the supply mission, dismissing claims that the Chinese Coast Guard had allowed one of the two Philippine boats to reach its outpost.
A handful of Filipino troops are stationed on a rusty World War II-era US ship that the Philippines intentionally grounded at the shoal in 1999 to assert its claims.
Mr. Escudero also opposed calls to train civilians and deploy them as soldiers in the disputed water, saying the government should resolve the sea dispute peacefully.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos said last week said he was not aware of an agreement to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Second Thomas Shoal. “And let me go further, if there exists such an agreement, I rescind that agreement now,” he said.
On Monday, the Chinese Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Zhou Zhiyong urged the Philippines to meet China halfway through diplomatic talks and manage their sea dispute.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Romeo Brawner, Jr. has said China was using its coast guard instead of its Navy force to harass Philippine vessels because “they want to act short of declaring war.”
Mr. Brawner said the Philippines would deploy more ships and aircraft to secure areas of the sea within its exclusive economic zone. The government might tap naval reservists and Filipino fisherfolk to help establish Philippine presence there, he said.
“This proposal is not designed to anger China or bring us closer to the brink (of war),” Mr. Escudero said.
“This is just to give the President flexibility to act as the chief architect of our foreign policy as he deems fit.” — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz and John Victor D. Ordoñez
House committee approves Taxpayer’s bill of rights and obligations
THE HOUSE of Representatives ways and means committee on Tuesday approved a bill that seeks to specify the rights and obligations of Filipino taxpayers.
The proposed Magna Carta for Taxpayers aims to provide “increased protection” to taxpayers by providing a detailed list of their rights and duties.
The chamber approved in August last year House Bill (HB) 4125 or the proposed Ease of Paying Taxes Act, which included taxpayer’s bill of rights, ways and means committee Chairman and Albay Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda told the hearing.
HB 4125 was transmitted to the Senate a month later.
“The Senate split the Ease of Paying Taxes [bill to create a] separate taxpayer’s bill of rights so they are asking the House for concurrence to their version of the taxpayers’ bill of rights,” he said.
The Senate approved its version of the bill of rights on July 31, while Senate BIll 224 or the Ease of Paying Taxes bill is being debated in plenary.
“We decided, just for the sake of national interest, to repeat this deliberation [on the taxpayer’s bill of rights],” Mr. Salceda said. “The leadership is predisposed to just concur with the Senate version… so at least we complied with the requirements of the law.”
“We need to safeguard the rights of law-abiding taxpayers,” Eleanor L. Roque, tax principal at P&A Grant Thornton, said in a Viber message. “Generally, law-abiding taxpayers are the ones enduring the difficulties in dealing with tax authorities. The taxpayer’s bill of rights ensures that taxpayers’ rights to due process are observed.”
Internal Revenue Assistant Commissioner Larry M. Barcelo said the measure is a “guiding principle” in formulating tax policies and increasing taxpayers’ awareness of their rights and duties.
He noted that while these rights are provided for in the 1987 Constitution and other laws, these should be consolidated for the benefit of taxpayers, the tax bureau and other agencies.
Under the bill, violators will get a jail term of six years and fined as much as P1.5 million. Those who violate the taxpayer’s right to quality service and assistance will be punished under the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
The bill also seeks to integrate the taxpayer’s bill of rights and obligations in public and private schools.
Taxpayer’s bill of rights and obligations should also be posted at all offices of revenue authorities, whether printed or digital, and should be both in English and Filipino.
The Senate version of the bill includes a provision creating the Office of the National Taxpayer Advocate to help taxpayers. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
Cash program to be expanded by gov’t
THE GOVERNMENT expects to complete the review of the beneficiaries of its conditional cash transfer program by September, the Social Welfare department said on Tuesday, as it looks at the situation of Filipinos who had not been considered poor before the coronavirus pandemic.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is looking at 1.4 million families, including 700,000 people who had been tagged as nonpoor before the pandemic, Secretary Rexlon T. Gatchalian told a news briefing.
“Come the end of September, the reassessment is complete, and what we can do next is start paying them,” he said.
He said the 700,000 people previously tagged as nonpoor had been heavily affected by the pandemic, pulling them back into poverty.
Another 700,000 people had not been assessed because of pandemic-induced lockdowns, he said. “Combining the numbers, we’re looking at close to around 1.4 Filipino families,” Mr. Gatchalian said.
He said the department is conducting reassessment to ensure the list is filtered.
Mr. Gatchalian said the cash transfer program called Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), accounts for half of the agency’s budget for 2023.
“By the end of the year, after this assessment is done, we believe that we can fully utilize the budget allotted for the 4Ps,” he added.
The program seeks to improve the nutrition and education of “extremely poor households,” especially children aged up to 14 years.
The agency’s poverty database program, which is the basis of 4Ps beneficiaries, will end this year to make way for the full implementation of the community-based monitoring system starting next year, Mr. Gatchalian said.
The local statistics agency will handle the new system.
Poverty incidence among Filipinos rose to 18.1% in 2021 from 16.7% in 2018, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. This was equivalent to 19.992 million Filipinos living in poverty.
The government seeks to reduce the poverty incidence rate to 16.4% this year, to 13.2% by 2025 and to 9% by 2028.
In an October 2022 report, the Commission on Audit said 90% of 4.2 million active 4Ps beneficiaries who have been in the program for seven to 13 years remained poor. It warned that most of them might get delisted.
The anti-poverty program received P780.71 billion in funding between 2008 and 2021.
Social welfare experts have said 4Ps should be complemented with other anti-poverty efforts and should never be treated as a standalone program.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. earlier asked the Social Welfare department to continue calibrating 4Ps and strengthen other social protection initiatives.
The agency is also implementing the so-called Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation program, which Mr. Gatchalian said has used about half of its funding.
He also cited the pension program for senior citizens and supplemental feeding programs at daycare centers. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
Ex-Election chief’s house bombed
COTABATO CITY — A grenade blast ripped through the residential yard of former Election Chairman Sheriff Abas early on Tuesday, causing panic among his family and neighbors.
Hours earlier, the chief of the general service office of the Cotabato City government, Pedro Tato, Jr. and his driver were wounded in an ambush by gunmen.
Investigators were still trying to identify the two men riding in a motorcycle who bombed the house of Mr. Abas, the scion of a big Moro clan in Maguindanao del Norte province.
Investigators and police ordinance experts collected fragments of the grenade that one of the two suspects had set off at the entrance of his house along Narra Street in Rosary Heights 3.
Police led by Major John Vincent Bravo were separately investigating the ambush of Mr. Tato near the Cotabato Regional Medical Center. — John Felix M. Unson
POGO owes gov’t P2.2B
SENATOR Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros-Baraquel on Tuesday scored Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (Pagcor) failure to collect P2.2 billion in unpaid dues from a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) that had closed shop.
“POGO’s don’t have redeeming qualities anymore,” she said in a statement in Filipino. “Money that should have been collected for the nation has turned into stone.”
The Bureau of Internal Revenue should work with Pagcor in ensuring that the dues are collected, Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares said in a separate statement.
“They don’t only cause chaos, they also steal from the nation’s coffers,” she said in Filipino. “If this POGO is a legitimate company, in the first place, then regulators should have a way of finding it and making it settle its liabilities.” — Norman P. Aquino
Higher tourism budget sought
THE DEPARTMENT of Tourism (DoT) on Tuesday asked congressmen to give it a P15.3-billion budget for next year, citing its big contribution to the Philippine economy.
DoT is “in dire need of a budget that is equitable to its contribution to the coffers of the national economy,” Tourism Secretary Christina G. Frasco told a House of Representatives budget hearing.
The agency was given a P2.99-billion budget for 2024, lower than its P3.73-billion budget this year.
“The reduction in the budget of the department as well as our attached agencies will of course adversely affect the projects that we have forthcoming in 2024,” Ms. Frasco said.
The Philippines has posted a 66% recovery rate based on international tourist arrivals, according to the Tourism chief.
House Appropriations senior vice chairperson and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo said the agency must show that it could “fully absorb” its budget. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
DA urged to boost rice stocks
THE SAMAHANG Industriya ng Agrikultura on Tuesday urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to start buying palay or unmilled rice from local farmers to ensure ample stocks amid the El Niño threat.
“Instead of resorting to imports that will only benefit importers and favored traders, the DA, through the [National Food Authority] should start buying palay from our rice farmers,” group Executive Director Jayson H. Cainglet said in a Viber message.
He said the NFA’s P7-billion budget could buy about 5.6 million bags of palay with a farmgate price of P25 a kilo.
The Rice Tariffication Law stripped the NFA of its power to import rice and has been reduced to maintaining an emergency inventory from local farmers.
Earlier, some industry groups urged DA to visit warehouses as they accused rice traders of price manipulation to justify the increase in retail prices.
“Visiting warehouses sends the wrong signal that there is an ongoing hoarding or shortage of rice,” Mr. Cainglet said. “No less than the President has assured us of enough stocks until the end of El Niño,” Mr. Cainglet said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
Locsin works assessed
DAVAO CITY — The old Davao International Airport (DIA) building in Sasa and the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao are important cultural properties, according to the Davao Historical Society, citing the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
An NCAA team visited the city last week to look at the state of the works of the late Leandro V. Locsin, the late national artist for architecture (1990) who designed the buildings, Davao Historical Society Vice President Patricia Melizza Bello Ruivivar told reporters on Monday.
These properties get priority government funding, protection and incentives for private support such as tax breaks, and a heritage marker, she added.
Under the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, works of a national artist are presumed to be important cultural property, which means these have exceptional cultural, artistic and historical significance.
“Even if it is not officially declared, it is presumed under the law as long as it was made by a national artist,” Ms. Ruivivar said. — Maya M. Padillo