MANILA, Philippines ?The Philippine stock market, one of the best performing in the region, is starting to attract a bigger share of foreign portfolio inflows to Asian emerging markets.

Net foreign buying in the Philippine Stock Exchange doubled to P15.8 billion in the first semester from P8.3 billion in the same period last year, PSE president and chief executive officer Val Antonio Suarez said in a press statement on Friday.

The volume of trades in the market also jumped by 32.5 percent as the daily turnover for the first half of the year stood at P4.2 billion from P3.2 billion in the same period last year, Suarez said.

Suarez said the favorable economic backdrop and the positive outlook of investors on emerging economies such as the Philippines presented bright prospects for the stock market.

The PSE chief noted that as the US-epicentered crisis bottomed out, the stock market has rebounded strongly.

The main-share PSE index surged by 14.7 percent as of August 17, 2010 and recorded its highest level in more than two years since the crisis when it closed at 3,525.81 points on August 10, Suarez said.

In 2009, the PSEi likewise surged by 63 percent, a turnaround from the 48.3 percent decline in 2008.