Philippine stock bourse beats Asian counterparts

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Stock Exchange index outperformed its counterparts in Southeast Asia during the first quarter as the global contagion sent stock markets worldwide tumbling to record lows. The 30-company PSEi, the main index barometer of overall stock market performance, gained 6.05 percent during the first quarter, beating most Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) exchanges from the January to March period, data from the PSE’s research group showed. The PSEi closed the first quarter at 1,986,22 points, up from its 1,872.85 point-level as of end of 2008. "We are not spared from the wrath of the contagion yet our strong fundamentals have kept our heads above-water where others have sunk in the recession whirlpool," said Francis Lim, PSE president and chief executive officer. Except for the Jakarta Composite index which closed higher by 5.8 percent in the first quarter, the rest of the region sustained losses. The Kuala Lumpur Composite index slipped 0.48 percent while the Straits Times Index of Singapore fell 3.5 percent during the period. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index declined 4.1 percent while the Vietnam Stock Index (VN) plunged 11.07 percent. “We understand the volatility of the markets during these times and how things can turnaround if we choose to slacken on the reform measures and advocacies we are undertaking to push the stock market forward," Lim said. In March alone, the PSEi closed higher by 6.09 percent, its biggest month-on-month gain in almost a year-and-a-half. At the close of trades on Monday, April 13, the PSEi’s closing level of 2,043.20 reflected a year-to-date growth of the index by 9.1 percent. In March, the domestic market capitalization of listed companies — or the total peso amount of all bourse-traded shares — reached P2.66 trillion, the highest end of the month level since October 2008’s P2.61 trillion. It was also 7.5 percent higher than the end-December domestic capitalization of P2.47 trillion, but lower than its month-end level in March 2008 of P3.52 trillion. Value turnover has also been steadily growing this year. From a thin P1.49 billion average turnover per day in January, it grew to P1.76 billion in February, spiking to P2.5 billion a day in March. Given the rising index, the increasing flow of money into equities lends credence to the advance. “I believe the reforms that have been put in place in the past years have allowed us to enter the global recession from a position of strength," Lim said. “Hopefully, our growth momentum can allow us to once more recover from the financial storm at a faster pace, the same way we did during the 1997 Asian financial crisis." - GMANews.TV