Stock brokerage firm suspends operations

Local stock brokerage King’s Power Securities Inc. has taken a full-year trading holiday as the prolonged coronavirus pandemic gnawed on its operations. The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has approved the voluntary suspension of King’s Power trading operations effective Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 this year. King’s Power, which is owned by businessman Carlos Ching, cited financial incapacity brought about by the decrease in trading transactions and the ongoing pandemic in its application for voluntary suspension, PSE president Ramon Monzon said in a memorandum. The PSE approved the application for voluntary suspension of King’s Power Securities after its compliance with the relevant rules and regulations of the local bourse and the Capital Markets Integrity Corp.

The client accounts of King’s Power have been transferred to the following successor-brokers: COL Financial Group Inc., Solar Securities Inc. and Quality Investments & Securities Corp. King’s Power started operating in 2000, just when the country was emerging out of the Asian currency turmoil of 1997.The PSE index ended 2020 at 7,139.71, down by 8.64 percent from the previous year, when the COVID-19 contagion had yet to disrupt the global economy. However, it recovered by 2,516.29 points or a hefty 54.4 percent from the year’s low of 4,623.42 on March 19 during the early days of the quarantine protocols imposed by the Philippine government to curb the COVID-19 public health crisis. With positive developments on COVID-19 vaccine development and the gradual reopening of the domestic economy since June, the local stock barometer managed to bounce off the year’s lows and trim losses for the year. Nonetheless, foreign funds were net sellers to the tune of P128.65 billion last year, compared to P14.26 billion in foreign outflows seen in 2019. INQ