Registered investments for September amounted to $743 million, reflecting a 33.7 percent decrease from the $1.1 billion figure in August, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Thursday.

Likewise, a 42.7 percent year-on-year decline was noted from the $1.3 billion level recorded during the same month last year, the BSP said.

About 85.7 percent of investments registered during the month were listed securities in the Philippine Stock Exchange (pertaining mainly to holding firms, banks, property companies, food, beverage and tobacco firms, and telecommunication companies).

The balance went mostly to peso government securities (14.3 percent). Net outflows were noted for all investment instruments; [i.e. Philippine Stock Exchange -listed securities ($351 million). peso government securities ($89 million), other peso denominated debt instruments (less than $1 million).

The United Kingdom, United States , Singapore, Switzerland, and Malaysia were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share to total at 81.8 percent

Outflows for the month of $1.2 billion were higher by 32.2 percent vis-a-vis August level of $895 million.

A minimal decline of less than $1 million was noted when the amount was compared to the level recorded in September 2017 of $1.2 billion

The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 73.7 percent of total remittances.

On the overall, transactions for the month yielded net outflows of $440 million, in contrast to the net inflows of $226 million in August 2018, as well as net inflows of $113 million recorded a year ago.

This may be attributed to investors' continuing concerns on trade tensions between the United States and China, the weakening of the Philippine peso and the continued uptick in inflation which may have been aggravated by the effects of Typhoon Ompong. DMS