• The bourse sees 6 companies going public this yr starting w/ Citicore Renewable Energy Corp., President Ramon Monzon said in a statement. The exchange recorded 3 IPOs last yr — far below its target of 14 — while 4 companies voluntarily delisted.
• PSE forecasts 175-Bn pesos ($3.16 billion) worth of capital to be raised through the exchange, around 40-Bn pesos of w/c will come from IPOs, Monzon said. Capital raised amounted to 140.95-Bn pesos last yr, up 27.8% fr 2022.
• To boost trading activity, Monzon said the PSE will push for regulatory reforms to cut the stock transaction tax to 0.1% fr 0.6%, and the dividend tax on non-residents to 10% fr 25%.
• The bourse also plans to pursue initiatives such as lowering the min. investment to buy stocks, algorithmic trading and volume-weighted average price or VWAP trading, according to Monzon.