Stock investors breach half-million mark in 2011

More Filipino and foreign investors participated in the local baurse as tally breached the half-a-million mark last year, the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said, adding that it is targeting more investors in the Visayas and Mindanao.

A poll involving 133 active brokers showed that total investor accounts inched up 1.3 percent to 505,054 last year from the previous year’s 498,838, the PSE said.

However, the pace of growth slowed last year. Investor accounts grew 4.8 percent to 498,838 in 2010 from 476,194 in 2009.

“While the growth in number of accounts was tempered in 2011, we are pleased with the significant increase in the number of active accounts in the market,” said PSE president and chief executive Hans Sicat.

“This reflects robust trading activity the past year, which was sustained this year with the 40 percent increase in value turnover year-to-date compared with last year,” he added.

Of the total accounts, 478,362 or 94.7 percent were retail accounts while the remaining 26,692 or 5.3 percent were classified as institutional accounts.

Institutional accounts are generally those held by corporations while retail accounts are held by individuals.

Specifically, retail accounts slightly grew by 4,360 or 0.9 percent to 478,362 from 474,002 in 2010.

However, the number of active retail accounts surged 32.2 percent to 149,233 from 112,880, PSE said.

“The share of active retail accounts to total retail accounts also increased to 31.2 percent compared with 23.8 percent in 2010,” PSE said.

Meanwhile, institutional accounts jumped 7.5 percent to 26,692 from 24,836 a year ago.

“Active institutional accounts, likewise, registered a 16.3 percent expansion to 8,302 from 7,136 in 2010,” PSE said.

Of the total investor accounts, local accounts had a 98.6-percent share. The remaining 1.4 percent belonged to foreign accounts.

“It is noteworthy that local accounts continue to provide a healthy base for our stock market as seen in the growth of active local accounts,” Sicat said.

“As we continue to welcome more foreign investments in the stock market, the share of local trading is necessary in building a strong base for liquidity in the stock market. We continue to persist in our market education initiatives to reach a broader retail base,” Sicat said.

However, a larger percentage of foreign accounts were considered active as compared with their local counterparts in 2011.

Of the total foreign accounts, 48.5 percent were considered active while only 30.9 percent were active local accounts.

In terms of retail investors’ profile, the PSE said male investors accounted for 58.5 percent of total investors.

Individuals earning less than P500,000 annually accounted for the biggest share at 37.4 percent of retail investors while those who earn more than P1 million every year covered more than one-third of retail investors and the remaining 28.1 percent earn between P500,000 to P1 million per year.

Investors earning more than P1 million annually were the most active traders.

Of the total retail investors, 71.4 percent were between the ages of 30 to 59. Investors aged 60 years and above comprised 18.5 percent of retail accounts while the remaining 10.1 percent belonged to retail investors between ages of 18 to 29 years.

Most retail investors were engaged in the services sector and were professionals, accounting for 30.4 percent and 24.7 percent of retail accounts, respectively, the PSE said.

Self-employed individuals accounted for 19.4 percent of retail accounts.

Most local retail investors were based in Metro Manila, accounting for 76.8 percent while 13 percent of retail investors were based in Luzon, excluding Metro Manila.

Local retail investors from Visayas and Mindanao represented 6.1 percent and 2.3 percent of total retail accounts, respectively.

Overseas local investors comprised a collective 1.9 percent of local retail accounts.

“We are cognizant of the challenges that continue to face the PSE in broadening its investor base,” Sicat said.

“On this score, we have pushed for the expansion of our presence in Visayas and Mindanao with the establishment of a PSE satellite office in Cebu last year, and hopefully another one in Cagayan de Oro to be opened later this year,” Sicat said.

Sicat added that the PSE will introduce new services to promote online trading to participants.