Philippine stocks started the trading week in the green, with some investors betting heavily on mining and oil firms.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) went up by 2% to 6,019 on Monday, October 19, while the broader all shares climbed by almost 1.7%.

Mining and oil jumped 4.3%. The sub-index was pulled up mainly by Manny Pangilinan’s PXP Energy, which zoomed to the 50% ceiling right at the open, after the government lifted the moratorium on oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea.

The market has priced PXP Energy at P11.58, 125% more than the P5.14 before the news on the coveted area broke.

PXP Energy confirmed it received a “resume-to-work” notice from the Department of Energy and is in talks with China National Offshore Oil Corporation. 

Meanwhile, net foreign selling continued for the 27th straight day at P614 million or $12 million. Year-to-date, net foreign selling stands at almost $2.3 billion.

A total of 125 companies advanced and 76 declined, while 46 were unchanged.

Corporate news

PH Resorts – Dennis Uy’s PH Resorts set the offer price for its follow-on offering of up to 450 million primary common shares at P1.68, a 32.8% discount from the top end of its price range.

The tentative start of the offer period is on October 21 and it will run until October 28. The tentative listing date is November 5.

ATN Holdings – The diversified real estate and energy company said it supplied rock aggregates to the P54-billion Phase 1 of the North-South Commuter Railway.

Pryce Corporation – The company said its net income in the 3rd quarter grew by 1.2% to P1.2 billion, while its revenues soared by 14% to P8.99 billion, mainly on higher sales of liquefied petroleum gas.

Xurpas – The company is preparing a comprehensive disclosure for a backdoor listing.

Last September, it confirmed that it will acquire United States-based venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners US by the 4th quarter of 2020.

At the same time, Xurpas is planning to sell 1.707 billion of its shares or 48% to Wavemaker. – Rappler.com