Loving the (R) on my Payslip

I look around and all I see is green. :D $_$

After a year of working tirelessly in IBM, I got my first raise! Yay! It was always a pleasure to see an (R) beside my basic allowance/language premium. It usually meant an annual increase, a modest amount for a humble corporate servant like me. But I heard our colleagues in IBM GPS North America didn't even get a penny increase, so any increase here not too shabby for Kenny...

My stocks are doing good as well. All my issues are green and up, but something happened to my portfolio though. I originally purchased stocks of Republic Cement (RCM), which was trading at an uptrend until yesterday. This morning, I went back to my portfolio, and suddenly, my RCM stocks are gone! In its place are stocks of Lafarge Republic, Inc. (LRI)! What happened to RCM? LRI ate RCM?

In any case, no need to fret much because LRI's up 3.27% from my original purchase of the cement stocks. Maybe they're sister companies and RCM is in trading suspension... Dunno, will have to check that.

-Anomalous Pfolio-

All System's Up and Ready to Go

Things are looking great for the Philippines!

Amid the looming European implosion comes great news. European investors are retracting investments from the crisis-struck southern EU axis after 5 bailouts (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain, and Cyprus) and finds haven on the stronger northern European bloc. Capital money is expected to trickle off to the ASEAN and Latin America as the capital flight continues on talks of bailing out a 6th country, Slovenia, and the rest of EU's peripheral countries.

The peso sits at 41.68 to the dollar, its highest in 4 years. Local news feeds are abuzz with talks about the Philippines' overall credit rating being raised to BB+ by Standard&Poor's. That means the Philippines will have lower borrowing costs and a more attractive investment standing. Add to that the projected 3Q quantitative easing from the US, which will positively impact our commodity markets as the foreign currency dips to competitive levels.

As such, almost everything in the local stock market is up. Each and every one of my favorite stocks is green, and I'm personally having trouble putting my money on the stock market right now :\.

After a long suspenseful battle with BDO, I sold the stock at Php64.00, at a loss of course. I felt sad, because for the first time I did not succeed in averaging down on the price to get a marginal profit (averaging down is when you buy an already bought stock at an even lower price to reduce the cost of buying). But the price line is highly unpredictable, I just decided to sell it - MWIDE and SCC were more favorable at that time.

To my surprise, however, BDO issued me a stock rights offer for 10 stocks worth Php48.60 each. I opened my portfolio the next day, and suddenly I'm in the green with BDO, at 31.28%. A great lesson learned - some stocks issue stock rights that can help compensate any loss you incurred from previous trading mishaps.

Later on I sold my positions in MWIDE (Megawide - who partnered with SM in constructing the Grass Residences) and SCC (Semirara Mining - who is currently waiting for the president to sign the EO on mining, like everybody else). to recover my Php800.00 loss on ACE.

Right now, I'm invested in BDO at a very light and short position, and RCM (Republic Cement), which is up +5.0% at early morning trade today. Both are small positions because I need free money while waiting for MEG to dip below it's support level of Php2.26. ;). Once it does, it's a buying spree :p .

 

Hopefully next week opens up better opportunities for me. *Interview later with a potential employer.

-hopeful-

What to Buy, What to Buy...? CHIPS!

The PSE index is beating all time highs at +5,300. At this point, I don't really know which stocks to buy :\ . 

And Thomson Reuters Charts is not helping - I couldn't access the beta platform from my desktop here in Batangas (now where's my Adobe Applet installer?? :| ).

Can't wait to go back to the office. 

CHIPS on my basket, I just hope COL Financial enters my buy order in time. I see the price going up...

-COL enter my buy!-

What Overexcitement Did to My Portfolio - Post Greek Elections

I'm feeling risky today.

Even though stock market news pages abound with good tidings about the Greek government, I believe the markets will continue to be volatile. The new government does not mean total salvation for Greece and Europe, but a stepping stone up the hard austerity ladder.

Garnering only ~30% of the votes, the New Democratic party will most probably be the new Greek government. But with a very slim advantage, the party should expect a rough road ahead. A request for a recount or civil violence may be on the list of things to lookout for. In any case, the world's eyes are on Greece, and while Greece's story unfolds, we standby guessing what the next possible scenario will look like.

I'm feeling risky today (because I had a very lively weekend ;) and I need to experience what it's like to trade post-elections). Early this morning, I bought MEG at Php1.97 - a property stock. I will have to drink calming milk later because the property sector in the Phils is the most volatile, and MEG is one of the most actively traded stocks listed. I probably got over excited and may pay for the repercussions of my overexcitement.

If I lose money later on I'll probably just say, "hey, I was high on Greek that's why."

-I hope somebody out there buys a new condominium unit.-

The Best Things in Life are Free! Nicki Minaj Concert

I got a free Nicki Minaj concert ticket from Globe!

 

I didn't know I get a free ticket if I get a BB plan. Just my luck I guess. That's savings on fun, good job Globe!

The thing is, there's only 1 free ticket, but since I'm a subscriber, I can bring friends and their tickets will be sold to them at a discount (Php2,000.00 per pax). Who wants to come?

I wanna hear her sing Super Bass, Beautiful Sinner, and Marilyn Monroe. ;)

-Boom booroomboom boom booroomboom baby-

URC Sold! What Next?

So where do we start from here?

Thank God COL entered my Sell order on URC. It's been red for the past few weeks (yeah yeah, I bought it at an awful high price, I had very high hopes for the biscuit, I totally misread the price-line). I won't tell you how much I purchased it (coz I'm a loser), but I sold it at ~Php65.00. It closed at Php66.00 yesterday (sayang!!). My profit was pretty slim :|



Go figure.


Henyways, now I only have BDO to ponder upon. It's still red, albeit me getting this Rights Offer thing yesterday. Here's what my broker told me:



I totally do not understand what it meant... I think it's just a promo that let's you buy extra stocks at a cheaper price... but I'm not sure. I did purchase 10 more stocks on top of my existing 30, just to average down on the cost, but I checked the stock this morning and it's still under. :(

So what's the next move? I checked the boards yesterday and they were all green like the fields of Sagada. That's because of the news about the Spanish bailout - it being the 4th largest economy in the Euro zone, how could you let it falter and crash? To date, Spain will be the 4th country to seek bailout after Portugal, Ireland, and Greece - and the bailout's gonna be big because Spain's economy is twice the size of the first three bailout countries' combined. What does that mean for us?

I'm not sure, I'll consult with my economist/consultant friend Tin Ablaza... :p My guess is higher taxes for Spaniards, lower disposable income, lower demand on goods, lower import demand to Spain, lower exports from export countries, less business locally, local economy contracts, investors here worry, stock market goes crashing down again due to lack of confidence...

I think. Again this will need confirmation. :|

-guessing... what's my next move then?-



CALahati

And the horror continues. If you are one of them late comers who believed in hearsay (from misled traders and intentional pranksters), you would have succumbed to the bloodbath that was Calata Corporation.

 

The stock's price soared to Php23.95/sh before plunging down to almost half of it's value in the same day. Good thing I divested the stock at ~Php19.46. The volume was weird and if you look at the bidders' and askers' panels you'll see that the price valuation was driven up by just one stock broker - Metro Pacific Investments, Inc. So they were just buying on one hand and selling on the other, probably to increase price valuation.

Anyway, at Php12.88, are you planning to buy this stock again? Still a great company, I would buy if not for the looming "Grexit" (modern term used by economists about Greece's inevitable exit from the Euro zone). The market is volatile, as you see from above. I'm not sure when the PSEi will climb back up to the 5,200 support line.

Would it be wise to just put my money in time? My mutual funds in BPI are not doing any better... : /

-musing...-