Foreign portfolio investment transactions in April yielded overall net inflows of $51 million, the central bank said Thursday.

This was a reversal from the net outflows recorded last month ($460 million) and a year ago ($354 million).

This development may be attributed to investor reaction to the World Bank’s view the Philippines will continue to be a top performer in the region, coupled with positive sentiment in anticipation of the country’s strong gross domestic product number for the first quarter of 2017, the central bank said.

On a year-to-date basis, transactions from January to April resulted in net outflows of $516 million vis-?-vis the $56 million net inflows for the same period in 2016. International developments such as the United States air strike against Syria and the increase in US interest rates continued to influence investments into the country, the central bank added.

Registered foreign portfolio investments amounted to $1.3 billion, reflecting a 3.9 percent decline from the $1.4 billion recorded in March 2017. Year-on-year, inflows were higher by 3.6 percent.

Outflows declined by 30.8 percent from $1.8 billion in March, and by 22.1 percent compared to $1.6 billion in 2016.

About 67.8 percent of investments registered in April went to PSE-listed securities (pertaining to mainly holding firms, banks, property companies, food, beverage and tobacco firms, and telecommunication companies); 32 percent to peso government securities; and the 0.2 percent balance to other peso debt instruments .

Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia, and Hong Kong were the top five investor countries for the month, with combined share to total of 81.7 percent. The US continued to be the main destination of outflows, receiving 75.7 percent of total remittances. DMS