Dominguez orders SSS, GSIS to double stock purchases

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III ordered state pension funds GSIS and SSS to double their daily average purchase volumes of stocks from last year to take advantage of low stock prices and support the market.

The directive came after the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) fell 9.71% on Thursday, its largest one-day drop since the global financial crisis in 2008.

SSS's investments in equities as of September last year stood at P95.7 billion or 18 percent of its total investment level, while GSIS had about 20 to 25 percent of its portfolio in equities.