MANILA, Philippines—Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) stayed positive in June, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said, attributing the “respectable” result to favorable sentiments arising from the Philippines’ strong fundamentals.

June’s FDI net inflows of $64 million raised the first half tally to $779 million, higher by 16.4 percent than the US$669 million net inflows recorded in the same period a year ago.

The growth in FDIs reflect favorable investor sentiment as the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals remained strong, amid a backdrop of a moderating and uneven global economic outlook, the BSP said in a news release posted on its website.

The first semester result also developed as positive balances were recorded across all the major FDI categories during the month in review.

The reinvested earnings and other capital accounts yielded net inflows of US$25 million and US$19 million, respectively.

Net equity capital infusion amounted to US$20 million, 66.7 percent lower than the level posted during the comparable period in 2010.

Net FDI inflows for the first half of 2011 aggregated US$779 million, higher by 16.4 percent than the US$669 million net inflows recorded in the same period a year ago.

The reinvested earnings account during the first semester yielded net inflows of US$223 million, representing the return on foreign direct investors’ investments that were subsequently retained in the domestic economy.

Gross equity capital placements reached US$244 million, with the bulk of investments coming from the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

The real estate, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, financial and insurance activities, utilities, and wholesale and retail trade sectors were the major beneficiaries of these equity capital placements.