Net foreign buying on Philippine stock market in the first seven months of this year grew 71.7 percent to 27.53 billion pesos, from 16.03 billion pesos level a year ago, local media reported Thursday.

Net foreign buying from January to July this year already exceeded the 23.73 billion pesos recorded for the whole of 2005, GMA TV quoted Francis Lim, Philippine Stock Exchange president and chief executive officer, as saying.

Net foreign buying is the difference between total foreign buying and total foreign selling.

"This is a clear vote of confidence in the country's future, because foreign investors will definitely keep their money elsewhere," Lim said.

Lim added that stock market activity also improved, with the average daily value turnover for the seven-month period growing 9. 1 percent to 1.92 billion pesos from 1.76 billion pesos last year.

Total turnover for the first seven months of the year amounted to 279.87 billion pesos, or 11.3 percent higher than the year-ago level of 251.45 billion pesos. (One dollar = 51.55 pesos)

Source: Xinhua