Common Sense Trading - A Blue Jeans Approach to Philippine Stock Market Trading

I have been out of the country and was wondering how the Philippine stock market is doing.  The first time I talked to a broker was around seven years ago.  I had just finished college and wanted to try buying stocks.  It was supposedly a booming market.  Daily trades were at a remarkable Php4-ish (or was it 5) mark.  I didn't know anything about it back then.   So I just had a look at my online account today and found the following information for the most recent trading day: Total Trade  31,744 Total Value  13,124,067,307.50 Total Volume 1,372,853,880 Php13billion! ($98M) That's a huge jump in seven years!  That'll make for a great sales pitch for brokers.  But really, what is the implication of the trade value jumping three times in value in seven years.  Does that mean that if I throw money into the market, I could potentially triple my money?  How I wish it was that simple.  The PSEi (index) was at around 3,...

There are signs that local Philippine consumer spending may be going down. Less Traffic I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that traffic in our Metro's streets has been behaving nicely. Unfortunately, people traffic in our shopping malls have been reportedly low also. Lower spending in malls I heard that credit card usage was not rising sharply alongside metro manila mall sale periods. A rise in credit card usage is normal during periods wherein malls have big sales. People have been spending less money lately, at least as far as malls are concerned. Fearful metropolis Could this be the beginning of a trend where people start tightening their belts? Or are we just seeing a blip caused by the local political chaos? Not too long ago, an explosion in Glorietta was largely believed to be a tactic of the administration to divert the public's attention from attacks against it. Whether this be true or not, people are fearful that it may happen again. Whether the fear is ...

When companies are buying back their own shares of stock on the exchange, it is, in general, a clear sign of stocks being undervalued by the market. That is now the case for us. It very well speaks for itself. Company buybacks on the PSE Companies have been buying back their shares on our bourse. To name a few, we have Filinvest Land Inc., Roxas Holdings, CADP group, PLDT, Chemrez Technologies, Vista Land and Lifescapes, Aboitiz disclosing buybacks and the list goes on. Disclosures published at pse.com.ph By simply perusing the website of the Philippine Stock Exchange , one will see many company disclosures of share buybacks. A look at FLI FLI had an IPO last year and the price of the shares was around PHP1.92ish on the day they were offered. In their disclosures they were buying the same shares back at around 1.08. That would mean they would net almost half of their IPO price and be left with the shares in their names. How brilliant. A Devil's Advocate perspective It is possible ...

Generally unpleasant Corrections are associated with unpleasant things. I remember when I first tried buying stocks. I did it with two unexperienced friends. We made our debut into Philippine stocks last year when the market was reaching new highs around the 3800 level. Shortly after, we saw a major correction in the Philippine Stock Market and watched the value of our new stocks plummet. We didn't like it. Luckily, we were patient, and since it was just a correction, the values returned to our entry levels and after a lot of waiting, rose a bit to give us our first taste of gains. It can be a good thing After almost a year of watching the stock market, talking to people about it and reading related material and news, I have a different view of corrections. I think it can be a good thing for various reasons, here are a few that I want to highlight: 1) It makes everyone cautious 2) It makes investors more discriminating 3) It reveals which stocks are quality stocks 4) It shakes off...

Today is the day the chinese celebrate the new year with such wonderous things as tikoy. Made from sticky rice, I like it best cooked with egg. Kung Hei Fat Choi! The market barely moved today. With a volume of about Php1.2 billion pesos, the index went down by only 5.64 points sticking close to this lame level that I am beginning to dislike very much. *yawn. It's one of the more boring days for Philippines Stocks.

I looked at how the market did today and I noticed that the PSEi inched up nine points. Looking at the chart of the day, I saw a flat line. It looked like a very lifeless trading day. Surprisingly though, the value of the trades was very near the Five Billion Peso mark. Last week, we saw a three day rally that was stronger than what we saw through the beginning of this week. I'm guessing that the Psei is sputtering at this point and will tumble towards the end of the week closer to the support at around 2900. I hope I'm wrong about this but my gut feel is that this tiny rally is over. Todays (January 31, 2008) overall stats at the Philippine Stock Exchange: Index----------------------Previous-----Current----Change PSE Composite----------3,256.53-----3,266.00---9.47 All Shares----------------1,977.98-----1,973.96---(4.02) Financials----------------776.71-------743.77-----(32.94) Industrial----------------3,928.57-----3,970.94---42.37 Holding Firms-----------1,724.94-----1,713.39...