Thai SET Q1 foreign buying tops 2009
Bangkok Post: 20 Apr 2010
Q1 foreign buying tops 2009The Thai capital market jumped strongly in the first quarter of the year, thanks to net buying by foreign investors of 42.47 billion baht, the Stock Exchange of Thailand says.
Yunyong Thaicharoen, head of the SET Capital Market Research Institute, said foreign net buying in the first quarter exceeded the total of 38 billion baht for all of 2009.
For March alone, net foreign buying was 44.56 billion baht, the highest in 51 months.
The SET index at the end of March totalled 787.98 points, up 7.28% from the end of last year. The forward price-to-earnings ratio for the entire market also rose to 11.9 times, compared with 10.9 times in the same period the year before.
Dr Yunyong said that despite the gains made in the first quarter, the SET remained relatively cheap compared with its regional peers.
Market capitalisation was 6.334 trillion baht at the end of March, up 7.86% from the end of last year. Average daily turnover was 19.586 billion baht, down 5.4% from the previous quarter but up 121% from the same period last year.
In US dollar terms, foreign investors had a net sell position of $227 million in January, but were net buyers of $164 million in February and $1.373 billion in March.
For April, net buying continued at $211 million for the first week of the month, but reversed to net selling of $208 million from April 8-16 due to political and social instability.
"The ongoing political problems have definitely affected market sentiment. Foreign investors have become net sellers, and some have begun to repatriate capital, if judging by the weakness of the baht on April 12," Dr Yunyong said.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/36322/q1-foreign-buying-tops-2009
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