LAST week: Philippine stock prices dropped anew by 3.10-percent week-on-week to 2,739.70 after the government reported a higher-than-expected May inflation figure of 9.6 percent. Another major factor was the decision of the Bangko Sentral to raise its key-interest rates by 25 basis points to 5.25 percent.

THIS week: The stock market will only have four trading days this week as the government declared June 9 an official holiday to celebrate the Independence Day.

Jonathan Ravelas, a senior market strategist at BDO-EPCIB, said last week’s close implies a sideways with downward bias movement, possibly between the 2,700-2,800 levels.

Meanwhile, AB Capital Securities’ analyst Maria Arlysa Narciso expects more bargain-hunting this week.

“Friday’s gains were fueled by the US market’s improvement but it was still held back slightly by the increase of the interest rates and the May inflation. Despite these, we can expect an improvement in the market as OFW remittances data are due this week,” she said.

STOCKS to watch: Narciso said one sector to watch is property, which is sensitive to interest-rate hikes. “Mining and coal plant development are areas that investors might want to consider venturing into since it is located in viable areas like Saranggani and Mindoro,” she added.

THE Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) Group said its foreign partners in the $550-million Asia-America Gateway (AAG) cable project should have a say on a proposed policy seeking mandatory interconnection of backhaul networks to all landing stations.

Loadstar Investment shares surge despite losses, deficit

OIL company Petron Corp. closed trading on Friday at P6 in a performance that landed it among the market’s 30 biggest gainers last week.

THE Gotianun-led Filinvest Alabang Inc. (FAI) is spending P5.6 billion to build a four-tower residential community within the 244-hectare Filinvest Corporate City (FCC) in Alabang.

LESS than two weeks after opening its operations in the Philippines, business process outsourcing firm TechTeam Global Inc. announced it bought the parent company of Manila-based Onvaio Asia Services Inc.

FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) will increase its flight frequencies to Macau and Singapore.

In a statement, PAL said it will mount flights to Macau every day from the five-times-weekly frequency.

SAN JOSE, Antique—To help lessen dependence on imported fuel oil, Filipino-owned Sun West Water and Electric Co. (Suweco) inked a power- supply agreement with Antique Electric Cooperative Inc. (Anteco) for the output of its planned 8-megawatt (MW) minihydro-power project.

LAST week: Philippine stock prices dropped anew by 3.10-percent week-on-week to 2,739.70 after the government reported a higher-than-expected May inflation figure of 9.6 percent. Another major factor was the decision of the Bangko Sentral to raise its key-interest rates by 25 basis points to 5.25 percent.

TALK about clout. Development Bank of the Philippines chairman (DBP), Patricia Santo Tomas, and president, Reynaldo David, introduced last Wednesday, the bank’s first batch of 120 nursing scholars to President Arroyo.