Online investors boost PSE trading
MORE FILIPINOS are tapping online trading platforms to invest in equities, resulting in higher trading volumes in the local bourse, according to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) annual report on stock market accounts.
In 2016, it recorded a total of 302,516 online accounts, 27.8% higher than the 236,669 tallied a year ago. The growth outpaced the 8.5% recorded for the combined online and traditional accounts, which reached 773,187 by end 2016.
“Technology has played a big role in the growth of our investor base over the years.
We are pleased to see that more Filipinos have continued to adopt online trading to invest in the stock market,” said PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Monzon in a statement.
This surge in online accounts has contributed to higher trading activity, with 53.7% of total market transactions coming from them. The PSE noted that this is the first time that online transactions accounted for more than half of the market’s total transactions. They made up 9.3% of the market’s total value turnover.
Of the total investors in the stock market, which include both online and traditional accounts, less than half or 43.7% earn below P500,000 annually, according to the PSE’s 2016 Stock Market Investor Profile survey. Investors earning more than P1 million annually comprise 31.1% of the bunch. The rest take home between P500,000 and P1 million yearly.
Of the total trading population, 60.3% earn 500,000 or less. Only 16% of the online traders have incomes of more than P1 million.
“The numbers show that more investors are finding out that participating in the stock market is actually an affordable investment. We are also happy that our online brokers have been able to reach out to more Filipinos outside of Metro Manila towards making stock market investing more inclusive,” Mr. Monzon said.
When it comes to age, investors between 30 and 44 years old cornered the biggest share in online investing at 40%. They are followed by 45- to 59-year olds who accounted for 26.4% of the total. Those aged above 60 made up 19.3% while the millennials, or those in 18-29 age group comprised 14.8% of investors.
Only a small portion of investors are based overseas as 96.1% were accounted for by local accounts. Metro Manila has the most number of investors, cornering 70.6%, while Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao have 16.4%, 6.2% and 2.9%, respectively.