MANILA -- Registered foreign portfolio investments last May amounted to USD1.2 billion, down by 11.9 percent and 18.4 percent from figures recorded the previous month and a year ago, respectively. This may be attributed to higher United States (US) treasury yields and investor concerns on a weaker Peso and rising oil prices, which may affect inflation.
The United Kingdom, US, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined a share of 74.8 percent.
About 80.2 percent of investments registered last month were in PSE-listed securities, pertaining mainly to banks, holding firms, property companies, food, beverage and tobacco firms, and transportation services companies, while the balance went to Peso government securities (GS). ]PSE is the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Net inflows of USD74 million were noted for Peso GS while net outflows were recorded for PSE-listed securities and other Peso debt instruments.
Outflows for the month of May at USD1.4 billion were 29.3 percent higher compared to the USD1.1 billion level in April due mainly to investors' reaction to renewed geopolitical tension between the US and China, coupled with continuous net foreign selling of PSE-listed securities since last February.
The opposite was noted year-on-year, as outflows declined by 6.0 percent from USD1.5 billion in May 2017. The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 77.4 percent of total remittances.
On the overall, transactions for the month resulted in net outflows of USD206 million. This is a reversal from the USD279 million net inflows recorded last month. Year-on-year, the figure is higher than the USD24 million net outflows recorded for May 2017. (BSP/PR)
