Foreign portfolio investment transactions yield net inflows in October

November 15, 2019

Transactions on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ( BSP)-registered foreign portfolio investments for October yielded net inflows of $105 million as a result of the $1.25 billion inflows and $1.15 billion outflows for the month.

This net inflow is a reversal from the net outflows noted in September (US$232 million), the BSP said Friday.

The $1.25 billion registered investments reflected a 3.8 percent decrease from the $1.30 billion figure in September.

About 81.9 percent of investments registered during the month were in Philippine Stock Exchange -listed securities (pertaining mainly to holding firms, banks, property companies, retail companies, and food, beverage and tobacco companies).

The remaining 18.1 percent balance went to investments in peso government securities, the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, and Malaysia were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 73.9 percent.

Outflows for the month ($1.15 billion) were lower compared to the level recorded for September  ($1.53 billion or by 25.1 percent).

The US received 74.8 percent of total outflows.

Domestic and international developments for the month included:  progress on the US and China trade discussions;  initial public offerings by firms in the industrial and services sectors;  the BSP's decision to reduce the reserve requirement ratio for universal/commercial and thrift banks by 100 basis points; and further slowdown of headline inflation to 0.8 percent in October from 0.9 percent in September.

Year-on-year, registered investments were 31.5 percent higher than the $953 million level recorded in the same period last year.

Similarly, gross outflows were higher than outflows a year ago ($1.02 billion or by 12.5 percent). In contrast, net outflows of $68 million were noted for the same period a year ago. DMS