Portfolio investments fall by $474M on euro crisis

Economic troubles in Europe continued to spook investors and resulted in a $474-million decline in foreign portfolio investment to the Philippines in September to October, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Thursday. However, a $560 million plunge in portfolio withdrawals was more than enough to offset the inflows decline, data showed. The end result was a 58.6 percent increase in net portfolio investments to $237 million from the $150 million that flowed in last September. “Combined investments in PSE-listed securities and peso government securities of $849 million were much lower than the $1.3 billion level last month and $1.7 billion in October last year, due to the lingering euro zone crisis," the BSP said. The monetary authority noted the October transactions included investments in the initial public offering of Puregold Price Club Inc. on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). “Outflows decreased to $679 million compared to $1.2 billion last month and $708 million a year ago," the BSP also noted. From January to October, registered investments in PSE-listed securities totaled to $7.4 billion, up 9.6 percent from $6.7 billion last year while investments in peso government securities totaled $6.3 billion. “Transactions for the first 10 months of the year resulted in net inflows of $3.4 billion, or a growth of 37.3 percent from the $2.5 billion recorded a year ago," the BSP also said. — ELR/VS, GMA News