Total number of local stock market accounts up by 13.7%

The total number of stock market accounts went up by 13.7% last year to 1.396 million as the pandemic prompted investors to sign up online and trade, according to Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE).

Of the total, 67% were comprised of online accounts while the remaining 33% were non-online accounts.

“The preference for opening online accounts continues to rise since technology has made investing more accessible to investors. At the PSE, we also continue to enhance and develop online services that will benefit the investing public.

We noted that there was a 35.6% increase in the number of active accounts last year. The pandemic prompted retail investors to actively participate in the stock market,” said Monzon,” said Ramon S. Monzon, PSE President and Chief Executive Officer.

According to the PSE, online accounts increased 19.7% to 936,200 in 2020 compared to 782,118 in the previous year, while non-online accounts rose 3.3% to 460,553 from 445,920.

Of the total, retail investors held 97.9% or 1.366 million accounts while institutional investors held 2.1% or 29,898 accounts.

Based on its 2020 stock market investor profile report, the PSE noted that:

98.5% or 1.376 million accounts were held by local investors while 21,233 accounts were held by foreign investors. Of the domestic investors, 75.7% were based in Metro Manila, 13.5% in the rest of Luzon, 5.7% in Visayas, and 3.4% in Mindanao.

Male investors made up 50.8% of the total stock market accounts while 49.2% were owned by female investors.

Investors aged 30 to 44 years old held 45.6% of total stock market accounts, followed by those aged 18 to 29 years old at 22.5%, then by the 45-59 age bracket accounted for 19.8%, and finally by those aged 60 years old and above at 12.1%.

Retail investors earning less than ₱500,000 annually took up 61.2% of stock market accounts, trailed by those earning ₱500,000 to ₱1 million at 21.6%, then by those with income of more than ₱1 million at 17.2%.

“The real estate investment trust (REIT) listings we’ve had attracted a good number of retail investors, particularly local small investors who use PSE EASy (Electronic Allocation System) for their initial public offering (IPO) subscriptions. We expect the upcoming IPOs and REIT listings to continue to support the growth in retail investors,” added Monzon.

SOURCE: Business World