ALI shares end flat
LISTED Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) ended the previous trading week with slight gains, following the release of its full-year financial result for 2020.
The shares of the property giant gained 40 centavos or 1.03 percent to finish at P39.05 apiece on Friday, prompting the stock to inch up by 0.13 percent week-on-week.
AAA Equities head of research Christopher Mangun in a text message said the stock saw a rebound on Friday as the price was at support, while investors remained optimistic that coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines may be rolled out in the country soon.
He added that the stock closed the week flat after the disclosure of its 2020 earnings, despite suffering losses in the earlier parts of the trading week.
ALI disclosed in a virtual briefing last week that its financial results showed quarter-on-quarter growth during the fourth quarter of 2020, but still ended the year down by 74 percent to P8.7 billion from P33.2 billion in 2019 as the global Covid-19 pandemic hampered its operations.
Mangun said ALI’s shares have been moving sideways with a slight negative bias ever since it hit a high of P42 in December.
He sees the stock continuing on sideways for the week sans the negative bias as more positive developments from the country’s vaccine roll-out come out.
Mangun likewise sees the stock moving sideways in the first half of the year as it is already trading at pre-lockdown levels despite weaker revenues and net income.
“We need to see the business recover before the stock can move higher, which may happen towards the second half of the year,” Mangun said.
He emphasized that further easement of quarantine restriction will boost the sentiment towards ALI as its mall segment dragged its earnings down due to mobility restrictions keeping foot traffic low.
BEIJING: Factory activity in China grew at the slowest pace in nine months in February, as business operations slowed over the country’s Lunar New Year holiday, according to official data released Sunday.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a key gauge of manufacturing activity, fell to 50.6 last month from 51.3, said the National Bureau of Statistics, with slowdowns seen in production, new orders and foreign trade.
Although this was the lowest reading overall since last May, when manufacturing PMI also came in at 50.6, the figure remains above the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction.
“Lunar New Year fell in midFebruary this year, and the holiday factor showed a greater impact on the production and operations of enterprises this month,” said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.
Zhao added that both the new export order index and import order index were in contraction, affected by slower production and purchasing activities during the festive period.
But market expectations remained bullish and the purchase price index of key raw materials remained relatively high.
Official figures also showed that even as smaller firms were more affected by seasonal factors, expectations for sectors such as specialized equipment, automobiles and some electronics remain in a higher range — with some surveyed firms indicating March will be a “peak season” for them.
Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing PMI was 51.4 this month, down from 52.4 the month before, said the NBS.
It noted weakening in the service industry and construction activity, also impacted by the nationwide holiday.