MANILA - Foreign portfolio investments for the first 8 months of the year yielded a net inflow of $182 million, a reversal from the $446 million net outflow recorded in the same period last year.

In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said gross net inflows reached $4 billion as of end-August, with the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Luxembourg accounting for 81% of total funds received.

"Improving business and consumer confidence brought about by encouraging domestic macroeconomic fundamentals such as declining inflation, easing interest rates and robust remittances by overseas Filipinos, contributed to the upbeat investor sentiment on the Philippines," the BSP said.

For the month of August alone, however, the Philippines had a net outflow of $83 million in foreign portfolio investments from a net inflow of $66 million recorded in July.

"Investors were less aggressive during the so-called 'ghost month' as investors cashed in on gains from previous market rallies to reposition their portfolio for the next month," the BSP said.

Registered foreign portfolio investments in August totaled $385 million, a 26% drop compared to the previous month. The BSP said 88% of these investments were in shares listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange, while the remaining 12% pertained to peso-denominated government securities.

Total outflows, which were largely in the form of withdrawals from interim peso deposits, rose 4% to $468 million.