Capital raised from the stock market jumped 116 percent in the first quarter to P41.63 billion from P19.24 billion in the same period last year, the Philippine Stock Exchange said Tuesday.
The PSE said capital-raising activities in the first three months included one initial public offering, a follow-on offering, two stock rights offerings and two private placements.
It posted higher capital raising activities even as the stock market ended the first quarter at 6,443.09, down 9.8 percent since the start of the year.
“The approval of our amended listing rules should help accelerate IPO listings at the exchange, especially in the SME board with the relaxed requirements and the adoption of a sponsor model for listing,” said PSE president and chief executive Ramon Monzon.
“When approved, our proposed rules on preferred shares only listing and proposed revisions to the backdoor listing rules should also encourage more listings at the PSE,” Monzon said.
Data showed that the average daily value turnover went up by 64.6 percent year-on-year to P10.99 billion from P6.68 billion in the first three months of 2020.
Foreign investors continued to exit the local equities market, resulting in a net foreign selling of P47.91 billion in the first quarter, a 55.1-percent increase from P30.89 billion net foreign selling a year ago.
“Uncertainty about the pace of the country’s vaccination program which in turn affects the prospects of the country’s economic recovery has discouraged foreign investors from investing in the Philippine market. But we expect that once a good percentage of the population has been vaccinated, these investors will soon regain confidence in our economy,” Monzon said.
Mondzon said that despite the increase in net foreign selling, local investors increased their share in the trading volume to 74.3 percent this year from last year’s 54.6 percent.
Monzon also noted the increased participation of retail investors in domestic fund-raising activities.
Preliminary information showed that retail investors may have accounted for over 45 percent of turnover in the first quarter, up from 26.9 percent in 2020.