Stock Roundup: Positive reports buoy technology, oil stocks

via Khmer NZ

Monday, 02 August 2010 15:00 Catherine James

POSITIVE second-quarter reports from global companies with interests in Cambodia buoyed share prices last week.

Panasonic Corporation, which sells its products in the Kingdom, climbed 0.92 percent last week on the Tokyo Exchange, ending at 1,142 yen (US$13.12).

Investors reacted positively on Thursday to its results for the April-to-June quarter. It posted a turnaround profit of 43.68 billion yen, compared with a 52.98 billion yen loss for the same quarter last year.

The firm highlighted China and other Asian emerging markets as key drivers of its profit growth.

The company also announced plans to purchase 49.5 percent of Osaka-based Sanyo Electronic, and 49 percent of Panasonic Electric Works Company, increasing its stakes in both to 100 percent.

Sanyo Electronics also saw its share price climb in Tokyo for the week, as the firm released earnings results early Thursday reporting a profit of 10.55 billion yen, from an 18.40 billion yen loss a year earlier.

Coupled with news of the Panasonic’s plans, Sanyo initially climbed 26 percent on Thursday, closing at 148 yen.

But share price dropped 8.72 percent on Friday, ending the week at 136 yen – a fraction below Panasonic’s bidding price of 138 yen per Sanyo share but still 20.35 percent higher than on Monday.

The markets also reacted positively to the oil majors’ earnings.

New York Stock Exchange-listed Chevron Corp’s profits tripled in the second quarter, in results released Thursday. Net profit increased to $5.41 billion from $1.75 billion a year earlier, as revenue climbed 29 percent to $51.05 billion.

Chevron operates Cambodia’s Block A in the Gulf of Thailand.

Its share price barely moved on the release increasing a fraction of a cent to $76.02, but it closed the week at $76.21 – 3.66 percent higher than its Monday opening.

New York-listed ConocoPhillips – which has also has a concession in the Thai Gulf – said on Wednesday its second-quarter profit jumped almost fivefold to $4.16 billion from $859 million a year earlier.

Its shares rose 1 cent to $54.44 on Wednesday, but closed the week at $55.22, a 2.66 percent rise on Monday.