Foreign fund inflows surged in March, as investors returned to the stock market on renewed optimism, data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.
Bangko Sentral said foreign portfolio investments or ‘hot money’ posted a net inflow of $482 million in March, the highest in 13 months, on renewed investors’ confidence.
The March figure was a sharp reversal of the $22-million net outflow registered in the same month last year. It was also a significant improvement from the $58-million net inflow in February.
Foreign portfolio investments are overseas funds that are temporarily invested in local stocks, government securities and money market. These are called ‘hot money’ because of the ease they are invested in and taken out of the local markets.
Total inflows in March reached $1.689 billion, lower than $2.1 billion a year ago, while gross outflows also eased to $1.2 billion from $2.104 billion.