Philippine Weekly Economic Recap: Sept. 10-14

Market-moving news for the week ended September 14, 2007:

Philippine exports rise

Exports rose by 4.5% in July to $4.196 billion from $4.016 billion a year ago due to the increased shipments of electronic products such as semiconductors, automotive and consumer electronics. Electronics, which accounted for 59.2% of total exports, increased by 5.1% to $2.484 billion from $2.364 last year. Other export products that also recorded strong increases were iron ore agglomerates, coconut oil, and ignition wiring sets, which exports surged by 105.4%, 103.1%, and 45.3%, respectively.

T-bill rates up

Benchmark interest rates rose during the auction held on September 10. Yield for the 91-day T-bill inched up to 3.769% from 3.731% in the previous auction while the 180-day T-bill fetched a higher rate of 4.842% from last auction’s 4.805%. The government rejected all bids for the 364-day T-bills as banks sought higher rates for the one-year paper. A total of P2.5 billion worth of short-term securities were sold against the total tenders that amounted to P6.9 billion.

Net foreign portfolio investments negative

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed that the country recorded its first monthly net outflow of $246.4 million in foreign portfolio investments in August, reflecting concerns of foreign investors over the negative impact of the US subprime mortgage crisis on the global credit market. The outflow was a reversal of the $1.1 billion net inflow recorded in the previous month.

OFW Remittances rise year-on-year 

Remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) rose by 4.6% year-on-year to $1.1 billion, bringing the level of remittances for the seven months of the year to $8.1 billion. The cumulative OFW remittances is 16.0% higher than the $7.0 billion posted in the same period last year.

Philippine peso firmer against the dollar 

The peso strengthened to a three-week high as it closed at P46.30 against the dollar. The peso's close was 0.49% or 23 cents higher than the previous week's close of P46.53 per dollar.

Philippine stock index down from previous week 

The PSEi closed the week lower at 3,294.55 points, down by 1.15% or 38.42 points from last week’s close of 3,332.97 points. Among the index companies that registered large losses for the week were Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (MBT), SM Investments Corporation (SM), and Megaworld Corporation (MEG), which share prices declined by 6.36%, 6.08%, and 5.88%, respectively.

Source: Philippine Stock Exchange

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