THE PHILIPPINE Stock Exchange (PSE) bested other broad market indexes last year in terms of improvement in index performance, data from the 54-member World Federation of Exchanges showed.

The PSE's index performance went up by 4.1% year-on-year, in local currency terms. It was followed by Indonesia Exchange (3.2%), NASDAQ OMX Nordic Iceland (2.0%), Bursa Malaysia (1.1%), and the Irish Stock Exchange (0.6%).

The rest of the broad market indexes recorded a decline in performance.

Accord Capital Equities Corp. analyst Justino B. Calaycay, Jr. said the PSE's improvement was not surprising, as the country's domestic fundamentals remained strong last year despite global nuisances.

"Although we missed out the GDP [gross domestic product] target last year, we had record level remittance. Plus, other indicators were kept within target," he said in a telephone interview.

The economy grew by a mere 3.7% in 2011, lower than the government's 5-6% target. Meanwhile, January-November remittances totalled $18.32 billion, up by 7.32% from the comparative period in 2010.

"Economic recovery was slow in the US, Europe's economy was dragged down by the credit crisis, while Japan experienced earthquake and tsunami which affected its economy as well as China's because of their trade relations," Mr. Calaycay noted.

On the average, the index performance of stock exchanges in the Asia Pacific region dropped by 13.1% in local currency terms and by 20.1% in US dollar terms.

For all broad equity market indexes included in the WFE, the decline was at 11.9% in local currency terms and 13.6% in dollar terms.

But 2012 might prove to be a better year. "The US economy is improving based on its indicators. I think the only threat in the global scene is the Eurozone plus some Middle East problems like geopolitical tensions in Syria. We will be experiencing milder economic threats this year compared with last year," Mr. Calaycay said.

The analyst added that he expects the Philippine economy to perform better in 2012. "The GDP forecast for the year is more reasonable. There are many infrastructure projects lined up, plus the PPP [public-private partnership] scheme of the government will finally roll out," he said. - D. A. Nepomuceno-Rodriguez