Foreign placements in RP stocks total $2-B

Money placed by foreign investors in the stock market nearly doubled to $2.01 billion during the first four months of the year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Thursday. It grew by 90 percent from the first four months of 2009, and accounted for 73 percent of the foreign portfolio that came into the country from January to April this year, the central bank said. The total amount of foreign portfolio investments registered with the BSP totaled $2.78 billion, up by $1.09 billion or 65 percent from $1.69 billion the same comparable period, the BSP said. Foreign investors placed more money in government securities and shares of stocks despite the political jitters in the run of to the country’s first nationwide automated polls on May 10, according to central bank data. Investments in peso-denominated government securities totaled $419 million, while peso time deposit placements amounted to $345 million. The BSP said about 83 percent of the foreign portfolio investments – popularly known as hot money –came from the US, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, and Luxemburg. Central bank officials said the country’s stable financial markets encouraged the steady flow of hot money into the country, and considering that corporate earnings were robust and the peso remained strong, while stock markets in Asia Pacific and the US are on the rise. However, foreign investors also cashed in on gains by withdrawing $2.18 billion from January to June compared to $1.91 billion of investment portfolios pulled out a year earlier. The BSP said the Philippines got a net inflow of $594.86 million in the first four months, which reversed the trend of outflows that totaled $221.27 million a year earlier. At the height of the campaign period in April, the flow of portfolio investments into the country surged by 158.2 percent from $435.32 million to $1.12 billion in the same comparable period. Also, investments in shares traded on the Philippine Stock Exchange accounted for about $728 million or 65 percent of the inflows in April while $395 million or 35 percent went into peso time deposits and government securities. —VS, GMANews.TV