Macao residents' investment in securities rises 21.7% in 2007

Results of an official survey released on Friday showed that the investment of Macao residents in securities issued by unrelated non-residents amounted to 101.2 billion patacas (12.7 billion U.S. dollars) at current market value by the end of 2007, an increase of 21.7 percent over the previous year.

Of the total investment, excluding Macao's foreign exchange reserves, equity securities, long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities were valued at 47.3 billion patacas (six billion dollars), 47.2 billion patacas (5.9 billion dollars) and 6.7 billion patacas (840 million dollars) respectively, according to the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS), jointly conducted by the Special Administration Region's Monetary Authority (AMCM) and the Statistics and Census Service.

According to the CPIS, the investment in securities issued by entities in neighboring Hong Kong, amounting to 17.7 billion patacas (2.2 billion dollars), accounted for the largest share, at17.4 percent of the total market value of Macao residents' portfolio investment abroad.

The rest was largely invested in the Chinese mainland (14.9 percent), the United States (10.6 percent), the United Kingdom (7.8 percent), the Cayman Islands (6.5 percent), the Netherlands (5.4percent), Luxembourg (5.2 percent), and Australia (5 percent).

The investment in securities issued by mainland entities, including those listed in non-mainland stock exchanges, increased markedly by 85.9 percent year-on-year in 2007, and its share in the total securities investment by Macao residents rose from 9.8 percent at end-2006 to 14.9 percent at end-2007, the AMCM said.

At the end of 2007, the market value of U.S. securities held by Macao residents reached 10.7 billion, up by 9.6 percent from a year ago, while British securities went up by 8.6 percent year-on-year to 7.9 billion patacas (987 million dollars), according to the CPIS.

In addition, the market value of Macao residents portfolio investment in Latin America and investment in securities issued by Australian entities grew 72.6 percent and 2.3 percent year-on-year respectively.

Source: Xinhua