PES capital raising increases despite outflow of foreign funds – Manila Bulletin

The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) reported that companies raised a total of 122.46 billion pesos in capital through the exchange during the first half of the year, 18 percent more than 103.76 billion pesos raised over the whole of 2020.

Capital raising activities for the period included two initial public offerings (IPOs), two follow-up offers, two stock rights offers and three private placements.

“We are delighted that companies continue to tap the equity market for their financing needs. Capital raising activities at PSE continue to be strong and we remain optimistic about our ability to meet our targets by the end of the year, ”said PSE President and CEO Ramon S Monzon.

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He added that “We will be hosting a few IPO marketing events for SMEs next month to convince them to take advantage of our relaxed listing rules and the pandemic back-up rule, which is in effect until. see you next year.”

Trading activity was also higher in the first six months of 2021 with an average daily turnover of 8.96 billion pesos, up 21.9% year-to-date and from 35.9% year-on-year.

Foreign funds recorded a net sale of 77.80 billion pesos from January to June.

Meanwhile, the PSE Index (PSEi) closed at 6,901.91 on the last trading day in June, down 3.3% year-to-date. The All Shares index fell 0.7%.

Among sector indices, the services, finance, industrials and mining and petroleum sectors posted gains while the holding company and real estate sectors both ended lower.

“On May 14, the PSEi slipped to its lowest intraday level of the year at 6,080.94, but we have seen the main index recover since then, testing the intraday mark of 7,000 on June 16,” said Monzon.

He noted that “for the month of June, the benchmark gained 4.1% month over month due to increased investor confidence as more Filipinos get vaccinated.”

“If the government can meet its goal of vaccinating up to 70 million people by the end of the year or even approach that goal, the stock market could return to pre-pandemic levels in the near term. “, explained Monzon.

The PSE still has many activities planned over the next six months, including the launch of new thematic indices, a data analysis platform and a revamped market education website.

“We will also continue to hold our twice-monthly market education webinars for retail investors, who have played a very important role in the development of the market during the pandemic,” said Monzon.