Bangko Sentral: Net hot money reached $885.83M in week ending April 26

Foreign portfolio investments registered a net inflow of $885.83 million in the week ending April 26, from a net outflow of $95.86 million in the week ending April 19, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data released over the weekend showed. Total inflows from April 22 to April 26 reached $1.466 billion, versus $580.93 million in outflows, data  showed. As a result, net foreign portfolio investments in the year to 26 hit $1.954 billion, up 150-percent from $782.91 million in approximately the same period last year. Gross inflows totaled $10.281 billion, up 88 percent from $5.467 billion in the same comparable period, while gross outflows was up 78 percent to $8.326 billion from $4.684 billion. Also called hot money because of the ease with which the funds can be invested and withdrawn in government and corporate securities in Philippine markets, foreign portfolio investments were largely placed in publicly traded stocks,T-bills, T-notes and T-bonds, and time deposits. As of end-March, around $2.0 billion or 84.2 percent of foreign capital inflows went to publicly listed securities, $351 million or 15 percent were placed in peso government securities, and $18 million or 0.8percent went into peso time deposits. The main recipients of foreign funds in the stock market were holding firms (+$510 million), property companies (+$454 million), banks (+$333 million), telecommunication companies (+$185 million), and food, beverage and tobacco companies (+$183 million), central bank data showed. — VS, GMA New