Foreign brokers dominated PH trade in 2011

Foreign brokerage houses led by Maybank ATR Kim Eng Securities topped trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange in 2011, reflecting buoyant foreign investor appetite for local equities despite extreme volatility in global financial markets last year.

Maybank ATR Kim Eng led the rankings with a market share last year of 9.32 percent, followed by Deutsche Regis Partners’ 8.65 percent, CLSA Philippines’ 7.36 percent,  UBS Securities Philippines’ 6.47 percent and Macquarie Capital Securities (Philippines’) 5.76 percent.

The top five foreign brokers last year, when PSE emerged as the best performing market in the region despite a modest index gain of 4 percent, had a combined market share of 37.56 percent.

Coming in next in the rankings were Philippine Equity Partners (4.7 percent), BDO Securities (4.49 percent), Citiseconline.com Inc. (4.3 percent), JP Morgan Securities Philippines (3.62 percent) and Papa Securities Corp. (3.37 percent).

Rounding up the list of top 20 brokers are: DBP Daiwa Capital Markets Philippines Inc., Abacus Securities Corp., SB Equities Inc., Asiasec Equities Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (Philippines) Inc., Wealth Securities Inc., BA Securities Inc., First Metro Securities Brokerage Corp., RCBC Securities Inc. and BPI Securities Corp.

The PSE’s total market value turnover for 2011 reached P2.85 trillion, up 18 percent from the previous year, while the main index rose by 4 percent to 4,371.96 at yearend, outperforming other markets in the region.

“The market saw an increase in trading volume [in 2011] compared with 2010, and reached record highs in terms of equity raised,” said Maybank ATR KE Securities chair and president Lorenzo Roxas. “Our extensive local and international distribution networks, as well as our experienced sales and research groups keep us in the position to capitalize on these opportunities each year.”

Maybank ATRKE Securities, the stock brokerage arm of financial conglomerate ATR KimEng Financial Corp., was named the country’s “Best Broker” by financial publication FinanceAsia in its 2011 Country Awards for Achievement.

It recorded a total turnover value of P265.13 billion last year.

Based on PSE figures, foreign investors had gone into net buying territory in 2011 in the amount of P56.52 billion, higher than the 2010 comparative net buying figure of P35.62 billion.

Capital raised at the local bourse reached P107.5 billion in 2011, the highest total amount raised in a single year. This figure was 26.6 percent higher than the amount raised in 2010 and also breached by 19.3 percent the previous record posted in 2007.

Capital raising activities included initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, stock rights and private placements.

Five companies conducted their maiden listing in 2011—Megawide Construction Corp., Puregold Price Club Inc., Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp., Calapan Ventures Inc. and Touch Solutions Inc.—raising a total of P9.04 billion from the market.

Meanwhile, capital proceeds from private placement, stock rights offerings and follow-on offerings amounted to P42.85 billion, P40.61 billion and P15 billion, respectively.

The combined market capitalization of listed issues in the PSE at yearend came in at P8.7 trillion, supported by the 5-percent improvement in domestic market capitalization, which finished the year at its highest recorded level of P7.24 trillion.

In terms of sectoral indices, the mining/oil index emerged as the best performer in 2011 as it surged by 68.5 percent.

This was followed by the holding firms index, which grew by 3.4 percent.