STOCKS ROUNDUP

STOCKS in international firms conducting business in the Kingdom generally rose last week as Jardine Strategic Holdings Limited announced Thursday it has bought 12.25 percent of ACLEDA, Cambodia’s second-largest bank.

Analysts said entry of the Hong Kong-based multinational investor represented renewed confidence in the domestic financial sector following a turbulent year for the economy. The firm’s share price closed Friday in Singapore up 1.3 percent at US$17.40.

Asahi Breweries Ltd also ended up for the week at $19.09, a 52-week high for the Tokyo-based firm. This month the firm announced a number of plans to bolster its business in Asia, intending to increase market share partially through acquisitions and to shore up ties with China’s Tsingtao Brewery Co to strengthen its position in Asia’s second-largest economy.

The brewery held an event Friday in Phnom Penh to mark the repositioning this month of its flagship Asahi Super Dry beer in Cambodia as a premium product in line with its global branding strategy.

The parent of Cambodian mobile operator Beeline, Moscow-based Vimpelcom, saw its share price briefly surge to a high of $20.04 Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange after shareholders approved a $0.32 interim cash dividend per share. The stock lost ground in afternoon trade, closing at $19.31, but still up 3.15 percent over the week.

In Hong Kong trading, Malaysian retailer Parkson Group, which said this month it intends to open its first Phnom Penh location by early 2011 as part of its expansion plans in Asia, ended at $1.67, down half a cent on the week.

Trading in JSM Indochina remains suspended at $0.66 on London’s AIM exchange pending the appointment of a new adviser to the firm.