Filipinos investing more in stocks — study

Local investors are growing in the bourse reflecting the interest of more Filipinos to infuse money in the stock market, a study released yesterday by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed.

The study shows local investors took up 6.7 percent to 469,467 accounts last year from 440,104 accounts a year ago, or a 6.7 percent growth, to comprise 98.6 percent of the total investor accounts registered at the PSE in 2009. Data were gathered from a survey of 132 active trading participants submitted last December.

Total investor accounts rose 7.1 percent to 476,194 accounts compared to total of 444,680 in 2008. Of the total, foreign investor accounts
only represented 1.41 percent or 6,727 accounts as it grew by a remarkable 47 percent in 2009 from 4,576 accounts in 2008.

PSE chairman Hans Sicat said one of the biggest challenges for the PSE with regard to enticing investor interest remains the limited liquidity of issues.

“To address this, the PSE has reinstated the rule requiring listed and listing applicant firms to meet a minimum 10 percent public float to maintain their listing status with the PSE. The rule has been submitted to the SEC for approval,” Sicat said.

Meanwhile, retail accounts or those owned by individuals cover the 94.4 percent or 449,545 of the total investor accounts in 2009 while the remaining 5.6 percent or 26,649 were institutional investor accounts or those held by corporations.

PSE chief operating officer Val Antonio Suarez said this is a reflection that the PSE’s efforts on market education are bearing fruit.

“The stock market is slowly being noticed as a viable investment medium despite the economic crisis. This should further motivate us to reach out to the public given that the total retail accounts represent just 0.49 percent of the country’s total population,” Suarez said.

He added that with the significant growth in institutional investor base by 38.8 percent in 2009, it poses a challenge to further enhance it.

Of the total local accounts, 443,780 were retail, while 25,687 or only 5.5 percent were institutional. The ratio of foreign institutional accounts to retail accounts was also small with only 962 accounts or 14.3 percent of the total foreign investor accounts. –Danessa O. Rivera, Daily Tribune