The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE), the operator of the country’s equities market, said its income in January to September rose 43 percent to P541.53 million from last year’s P376.84 million on higher operating revenues.
Listing-related fees, trading-related fees and service fees all posted gains during the period, boosting PSE’s operating revenues to P1.1 billion, up by 24 percent from last year’s P889.41 million. Total expenses went up by 11 percent to P514.8 million from last year’s P463.37 million.
“Capital requirement for post-pandemic business activities spurred listing activity this year. We actually expect a few more public offerings in the last few weeks of the year,” PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said.
Capital raised from the sale of primary and secondary shares was at P161.41 billion for the nine months. Fund-raising activities during the period included four initial public offerings, three follow-on offerings, three stock rights offerings and six private placements.
Daily average turnover was at P8.43 billion as of end-September with foreign funds as net sellers at P86.77 billion.
“Trading activity was brisk with the increased participation of retail investors in the market. We see this momentum holding up, considering that most investors are anticipating a year-end rally now that the PSE index has tested the 7,400 level. Even as domestic retail investors picked up the slack from the absence of foreign funds, we still hope that these foreign institutional investors will soon return to our market,” Monzon said.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes