Stock Market Happy With Record Rise In 16 Years: Thailand

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Stock Market Happy With Record Rise In 16 Years: Thailand

Tan Network 2012-04-20

BANGKOK: -- The stock market supervisory agency says the bourse has seen record growth in the first quarter with the index nearing 1,200 points.

President of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, or SET, Charumporn Chotikasathien said the SET increased by 16.72 percent year-on-year to 1,196.77 points at the end of the first quarter, which is record growth in 16 years and the largest growth compared to other emerging countries.

Charumporn then said the Market for Alternative Investment, or MAI, grew 10.57 percent from last year to end at 292.15 points at the end of the first quarter.

He said the average trade value for the SET was at 31.2 billion baht a day in the first quarter while the MAI saw an average of 35,101 transactions a day.

The president reported the market's new electronic trading system is still in the trial stage.

He expected the new system to be implemented in July while the electronic trading link with other ASEAN countries should be in place around August.

The SET's Deputy Manager in charge of organization strategy Wirathai Santiprapop said the market capitalization of the SET and the MAI have reached unprecedented heights in the first quarter.

The SET's market capitalization is at 9.86 trillion baht, a 17.2 percent growth year-on-year, while MAI's is at 93.07 billion baht, an increase of 20.4 percent from 2011.

Wirathai said the SET's market capitalization has the potential to hit ten trillion baht before the end of this year, if no fresh negative factors emerge.

He said the Thai stock market should continue to perform well in the second quarter given the central banks of many countries are still maintaining their benchmark interest rates at a low level and imposing expansionary monetary policies.

Wirathai suggested the inflating goods' prices be handled with caution as they could hurt liquidity while saying the domestic economy should pick up on support from the government's post-flood economic stimulus packages.