MANILA, Philippines — Total value turnover at the Philippine Stock Exchange for the first half reached P661.81 billion, 28.9 percent higher than the P513.30 billion registered in the same period last year. The combined market capitalization of listed issues in the PSE at the end of the first half rose by 33.4 percent to P8.91 trillion compared with P6.68 trillion in the same period last year.

Preliminary PSE figures also show that foreign investors went into net buying territory during the first half in the amount of P14.75 billion from P15.75 billion in the same period last year.

The PSE reported that market performance closed on a positive note during the period between January and June and even set a new record high in early July.

The PSEi advanced by 2.14 percent or 90.07 points to end at 4291.21 as of June 30, 2011. On July 4, the PSEi set a new record high at 4,421.56 from its previous high of 4,397.30 last November 2010.

"Trading appears mixed during the second quarter but recently picked up due to investor confidence-boosting news provided by the country’s recent ratings upgrades from international ratings agencies,” PSE President and Chief Executive Officer Hans B. Sicat said.

“Uncertainties abroad, particularly the Euro zone’s ongoing debt crisis and China’s declining exports, kept some of our foreign investors on the sidelines,” Sicat noted.

Total capital raised was P62.59 billion for the January to June period due largely to the initial public offering of Megawide Construction Corporation (MWIDE), follow-on offerings of San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc. (PF) and San Miguel Corporation (SMC), stock rights offerings of SM Development Corporation (SMDC), Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (MBT), & Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), and private placement of Banco de Oro Unibank, Inc. (BDO). This was an improvement over the P38.98 billion raised in the first half of 2010.

In terms of sectoral indices, the Mining & Oil index emerged as the best performer as it climbed by 43.34 percent. This was followed by the Holding Firms index at 4.53 percent.

“Our local economy remains on fundamentally sound footing, and we are optimistic that the market will continue to test new highs as we head to the second half of 2011,” Mr. Sicat said.

A significant factor that will help realize this optimism is market liquidity, which the Exchange intends to boost by pursuing initiatives to improve listing activities. The PSE is proposing to ease listing and disclosure requirements for petroleum and renewable energy companies seeking to list on the stock exchange. The proposal is a result of a collaboration initiated by the Exchange with the Department of Energy and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The supplemental listing requirements aim to relax the one-year operating history requirement of the Exchange under the Second Board Listing Rules to allow the listing of petroleum and renewable energy companies. The proposed disclosure guidelines and supplemental disclosure requirements also aim to enhance the investor-protection features of the rules of the Exchange and to align these rules with global standards. This proposal is currently undergoing public comment.

The PSE also revived the listing by way of introduction (LBI) rules subject to the implementation of the amendments to the LBI rules, which include the independent fairness opinion requirement for the listing applicant’s listing price of its securities. The PSE has also reinstated a crucial continuing listing requirement, the Rule on Minimum Public Ownership, which requires that a listed company should maintain a minimum 10 percent of its shares that are held by the public. The rule is expected to bring about more follow on offerings, and even out free float levels across all listed companies, thus making more shares available to be bought and sold by the public.

The Exchange is also implementing this September a change in the policy on calculating the PSEi. Revisions for a company’s inclusion in the PSEi include, among others, a higher public float requirement of 12 percent from the previous 10 percent, and improved measurements in determining liquidity and market capitalization. The changes are expected to match global best practices, and would allow the PSE indices to complement an ongoing initiative by the ASEAN Exchanges to form the “ASEAN Stars” or 210 ASEAN stocks representing blue chip stocks of ASEAN bourses.

ASEAN Exchanges is another main project of the PSE in collaboration with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The collaboration aims to promote the growth of the ASEAN capital market by driving cross-border collaboration, streamlining access to ASEAN, creating ASEAN centric products, and implementing targeted promotional initiatives.

Last July 26, 2010, the PSE rolled out a new trading system that is designed to trade a wide range of cash, debt and derivative instruments as well as improve the capacity of the PSE to handle any future sharp increases in its value turnover. The new trading system was developed by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Technologies.

The PSE also completed the transfer of its principal office to Makati City – the financial district of the country through an office integration project that aimed to increase the efficiency of resources and reduce costs in order to enhance shareholder value.