UBS spends $5.3M to steady First Gen's shares; Bonds rise over coup threats; 'Fund relief efforts, not rallies'

Business Mirror Feb 24, 2006 UBS spends $5.3M to steady First Gen's shares UBS AG, Europe 's biggest lender by assets, said it acquired 5.94 million shares of First Gen Corp. for about P273 million (US$5.3 million) as the price fell of the stock the bank helped sell. UBS bought 3.38 million shares at an average price of P45.8243 each in the week ended February 17, the bank said in a statement to the stock exchange in Manila Thursday. It said it acquired 2.57 million shares for P46.0845 a piece the week before. The purchases aimed to stabilize trading, the statement said. First Gen, the Philippines ' third-largest power producer and a unit of First Philippine Holdings Corp., sold P8.5 billion of shares in an initial public offering (IPO) last month partly arranged by UBS. The amount raised was lower than initially planned as concerns about its earnings prospects cooled investor demand. First Gen shares are down 4.3 percent from their IPO price of P47 a share. The stock last traded at P45 Thursday at the noon close of trading in Manila . Bloomberg Bonds rise over coup threats PHILIPPINE five-year local-currency bonds rose for a second day as concern about a threat to President Arroyo's leadership eased. The President this week vowed to stay in office until her term ends in 2010, saying she was the "best person"for the job. Concern over her future grew after an explosion at the presidential palace on February 20. The military has been holding as many as 14 junior officers since January for planning a coup against her, the state-owned Philippine News Agency reported yesterday, citing Army chief Hermogenes Esperon. "There is no reason for yields to go up apart from the political noise," said Manila-based Peter Anthony Bautista, a bond trader at First Metro Investment Corp., the investment unit of the nation's largest lender by assets. "The economic fundamentals are still good and the market is expecting the budget deficit to be better than the government's target." The yield on the five-year bond fell 2 basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 8.31 percent as of 1:07 p.m. in Manila , according to the Money Market Association. The price of the 11-percent security due in January 2011 rose 0.0587, or P5.87 per 10,000-peso face value, to 110.6442. Bond prices move inversely to yields. Bloomberg 'Fund relief efforts, not rallies' Malacañang on Wednesday night appealed to the opposition to channel its resources and efforts to relief operations for the victims of the Leyte landslide and not to antiadministration rallies intended to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the first People Power Revolution. Malacañang also gained an ally in Fr. James Reuter, who said it would be a "mistake" to turn the Edsa 1 anniversary into a venue for antiadministration rallies. In a statement, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita urged administration foes to not to hold antigovernment rallies to coincide with the 20th Edsa Anniversary in deference to the sufferings of the landslide victims in Southern Leyte. Ermita issued the appeal even as he maintained that the government does not "question their right to hold such rallies which are part of the political rights of our citizens which are guaranteed under our Constitution." M. Gonzalez