The Philippine Stock Exchange was the third-best performing in Southeast Asia as of the first half of the year after posting a 7.1-percent gain on strong foreign buying.
The main gauge Philippine Stock Exchange Index closed at 7,999.71 on June 28, while the broader All Shares index climbed 8.3 percent in the first six months of the year to 4,893.78.
Four of six sector indices finished higher, with the services sector registering the biggest year-to-date gain of 18.6 percent.
The financials and mining and oil sectors, meanwhile, closed 3.4 percent and 7.4 percent lower, respectively, at the end of June 2019.
“The stock market benefitted from a mix of positive internal and external factors. On the domestic front, we saw inflation stabilize which prompted an interest rate cut and a reduction in reserve requirement by the Bangko Sentral,” said PSE president and chief executive Ramon S. Monzon.
“The PSE is among the emerging markets that benefitted from foreign fund inflows which are looking for attractive returns as US interest rates remain steady,” he added.
Foreign investors were net buyers in the market at the end of the six month period.
Net buying stood at P21.10 billion, a reversal from the P65.84-billion net foreign selling at the end of June 2018. Daily average value turnover rose 9.7 percent to P7.84 billion year-to-date.
The market capitalization stood at P 14.69 trillion, up 8.4 percent since the start of the year. Capital raised during the first half amounted to P37.89 billion.
“After the back-to-back listings in the last week of June, we are looking to more fund-raising activities in the coming months,” Monzon said.
Among the companies that recently raised capital stock through the stock market were Arthaland Corp., which generated P1 billion from a preferred shares offering and Petron Corp., which garnered P20 billion in fresh cash also from the issuance of preferred shares.
Axelum Resources Corp., an export-oriented manufacturer of premium coconut products, last week filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to generate as much as P7.7 billion through an initial public offering scheduled by the fourth quarter of the year.