Investment by Macau residents in securities witnessed a notable increase last year due to a significant improvement in investment sentiment in financial instruments and an upsurge in asset prices, according to the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS). On 31 December 2009, investment by Macau residents (including individuals, the government and other legal entities but excluding Macau’s foreign exchange reserves) in securities amounted to MOP116.3 billion, up markedly by 41.6 percent from a revised MOP82.2 billion at end-2008, a record high value since the inception of the CPIS in 2002. Of this total, equity securities, long-term debt securities and short-term debt securities were valued at MOP61.1 billion, MOP49.9 billion and MOP5.3 billion respectively. In comparison with the previous year, the investment in equity securities, of which mutual funds/investment trusts amounted to MOP13.6 billion, soared by 96.9 percent. Investment in long-term debt securities rose by a relatively modest 15.1 percent, whereas that in short-term debt securities fell by 31.7 percent. The CPIS, jointly conducted by the Monetary Authority of Macau and the Statistics and Census Service, is aimed at collecting information on investment by Macau residents in securities issued by unrelated non-residents, in terms of market value and geographical distribution.
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