Foreign funds leaving the stocks listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) have slowed down since the first week of September as the economy remains fundamentally strong, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

Based on the latest weekly market reports from the PSE, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that foreign outflows at the Philippine equities market have steadily fallen from September to date.

“Investors remain bullish because our country’s macroeconomic fundamentals are solid and there has been no change at all in economic policies or thrusts under the new government,” Dominguez said.

According to PSE data, the year-to-date foreign portfolio investments in the country remained positive, with net foreign buying at P9.424 billion.

Dominguez explained that foreign investors have been selling more local stocks than usual in the past weeks owing in large part to the strengthening American dollar and expectations of an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

He noted that the market volatility was not an isolated case in the Philippines as equities in other emerging markets have also come under similar pressures in recent weeks as investors started speculating on the chances of higher US interest rates in the near future.

PSE data showed that the market selloff posted a steady decline over the Sept. 5 – Oct. 4 period.

From P7.545 billion last Aug. 29, the amount of foreign selling in the equities market fell to P7.46 billion on Sept. 5, P4.263 billion on Sept. 12, P1.914 billion on Sept. 19, P763 million on Sept. 26, and P655 million last Oct. 4.