Philippine portfolio investments down in second consecutive month

Philippine portfolio investments slid for the second consecutive month as speculations that the U.S. Federal Reserve might soon end its stimulus program dampened investors interest in emerging markets. The local central bank said Thursday that portfolio investments, more known as "hot money," posted a net outflow of 22.98 million U. S. dollars in June. This was the second consecutive month that portfolio placements fell to the negative territory, following the record 640.84 million U.S. dollars net outflow in May. The central bank said the outflow was smaller in June than in previous month as "the expected return of funds to emerging markets has already started." Gross inflows in June totaled 2.84 billion U.S. dollars, while gross outflows reached 2.86 billion U.S. dollars. Higher interest in the peso-denominated government securities and time deposits partially offset the outflows. Transactions in government securities and time deposits yielded net inflows of 491 million U.S. dollars, and 27 million U.S. dollars, respectively. Most of the inflows came from the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, China's Hong Kong and Luxembourg.