Screen Shot 2021-05-24 at 2.46.56 PM Based on a report submitted by the PSE to the Capital Market Development Council (CMDC), local retail investors had accounted for 74.3 percent of stock market transactions as of end-March this year. In terms of volume, retail investors accounted for 43.3 percent of total, a significant jump from 18.2 percent in 2019 and 26.9 percent last year. Foreign participation in the stock market, on the other hand, declined in the first three-months to 25.7 percent from 55.5 percent in 2019 and 45.4 percent in 2020. Despite the sharp drop in the number of overseas investors, the average trading volume of the local bourse still rose by 49.6 percent last quarter, which PSE President Ramon Monzon said “indicating that local investors have stepped up.”