THE local stock market ended the year on record high and is expected for another strong year in 2018 as the country undertakes new initiatives to attract more investors.
“In 2017 the market did very well. It has been a very profitable year I guess for the investors,” said Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) President Ramon Monzon.
After posting losses for two years in a row, the benchmark PSE index (PSEi) for the first time closed at a record high on the last trading day of the year on December 29, 2017, rising by 23.33 points or 0.3 percent, to 8,558.42.
Share prices closed in 2016 at 6,840.64. This was the 14th time that the main index closed at an all-time high this year.
For 2017 the PSEi gained 25.1 percent. Daily average value turnover rose 3.2 percent year-to-date at P8.06 billion.
Monzon is optimistic that gains in stocks will be sustained next year on the back of the passage of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN).
The tax-reform law, which was signed by President Duterte on December 19, is the first package of the government’s proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program. It was expected to generate additional revenue to fund the country’s investment requirements.
“We are banking, hoping to see higher market levels with the passage of the tax reform, so we are looking forward to that,” Monzon said. “We are very optimistic about 2018.”
He explained that the PSE is embarking on new initiatives to attract more investors into the stock-market amid the increase in stock-transaction tax. He added it will launch short selling and securities borrowing and lending by the first quarter of the year.
“We are planning to launch new indices because we felt that, with new index funds, plus the short-selling capability, that would make our markets attractive to foreign investors,” he added. The TRAIN raised the stock-transaction tax from 0.5 percent of 1 percent on its gross selling price to 0.6 percent.
Monzon believes that a 10-basis point or 20-percent increase in the stock-transaction tax will make the local stock market uncompetitive against regional peers.
He said investors will have to pay for the stock-transaction tax whether they gain or lose money in the trade, saying “that’s very, very big for foreign investors who trade in the millions of dollars.”
“In developing the capital market, we have to be very conscious of what the other capital markets are doing in the region or even globally. The foreign investors will always go to a place where transaction costs are less because it is enough to make money on a trade. If have transaction costs, we become very uncompetitive with the other stock exchanges,” he added.
Nevertheless, Monzon targets facilitating P200 billion worth of capital raising this year.
“We targeted P200 billion for 2017, obviously did not make it. We were only about P150 billion or something,” he said. “We will target again P200 billion until we get it.”
Monzon added there were four initial public offerings in 2017, noting “I’m targeting more [in 2018].”
BDO Nomura Securities has projected the local stock barometer to rise to the 9,100 level by the end of 2018, bolstered by strong economic growth story of the Philippines amid rising inflation and interest-rate environment.