Foreign funds flock to Thailand’s stock market

Foreign funds flock to Thailand’s stock market        (Photo: bangkokpos)

Bangkok (VNA) – The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) said that with the continuity of Thai economic turnaround coupled with China's border reopening, funds continued to flow into Asian stock markets, particularly the Thai bourse, in January.

According to SET senior executive vice-president Soraphol Tulayasathien, investor concern about a deep recession has eased as inflation slows, which could encourage central banks to loosen monetary policy earlier than expected.

With the baht appreciating, foreign investors last month posted net purchases of more than 58 billion THB (1.6 billion USD) combined for the stock and bond markets. The positive outlook was supported by the rising numbers of tourist arrivals and the likelihood that export growth will resume in the near future.

In the first month of 2023, the SET index rose 0.2% from December, 2022  to 1,671.46 points, an increase that was consistent with regional peers.

The index last month was propelled by industries that have improved based on Thailand's reopening, with solid earnings expected for the final quarter of 2022. Consumer products, technology, services, and property and construction sectors fared better than the average SET index for the period.

The Market for Alternative Investment's average daily trading value rose to 72.0 billion THB in January, up from 56.2 billion in December, but fell 23.7% year-on-year.

Foreign investors were net buyers for a fourth consecutive month in January, tallying 19 billion THB, raising their total net purchases to 69.4 billion from October 2022 to January 2023.

According to the SET, foreign investors have also had the highest trading value ratio for nine straight months.

Soraphol noted the value of Thailand's initial public offerings this year should be among the highest in Asia./.