Foreign portfolio investment transactions result in net outflows in September

October 17, 2019

Transactions on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas -registered foreign portfolio investments for September yielded net outflows of $232 million as a result of the $1.5 billion outflows which more than offset the $1.3 billion inflows for the month.

But this net outflow is an improvement from the net outflows of $329 million  in August.

The $1.3 billion registered investments reflected a 7.2 percent increase from the $1.2 billion figure in August.

About 80.2 percent of investments registered during the month were in Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)-listed securities (pertaining mainly to property companies, holding firms, banks, food, beverage and tobacco companies, and transportation firms)

The remaining 19.8 percent went to investments in peso government securities.

The United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, and Luxembourg were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share totalling 72.3 percent.

On the other hand, outflows for the month of $1.5 billion were slightly lower compared to the level recorded for August's $1.6 billion.

The US received 75 percent of total outflows.

Domestic and international developments for the month included:  ongoing trade tensions between the US and China;  attacks on Saudi Aramco's oil facilities in Saudi Arabia which triggered the largest jump in oil prices in decades;  the US Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates;  the BSP's decision to cut interest rates and the reserve requirements ratio of banks; and  the impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump.

Year-on-year, registered investments were 75.1 percent higher than the $743 million level recorded in September 2018.

Similarly, gross outflows were higher than outflows of $1.2 billion  a year ago.

In contrast, net outflows for the month was lower from the net outflows of $440 million  for the same period a year ago. DMS