Hua Seng Heng, one of Thailand's oldest gold traders, plans to expand into neighbouring countries starting with Myanmar and Singapore next year.
Thanarat Possawong, the managing director of Hua Seng Heng Gold Futures, said apart from those two countries, the parent will open combination brokerages and retail gold outlets in other Asean countries later.
The move is aimed at serving wealthy Asean citizens, whose numbers are rising amid opportunities ahead of economic integration in 2016.
He said like Thais, other Asean residents like to save gold.
"People in Myanmar like to keep their gold at home, while Singaporeans are more advanced, buying gold for investment and trading on futures market, so the company will develop technology suitable with demand from those investors," said Mr Thanarat, remarking on the first two countries targeted by the company.
Locally, Hua Seng Heng plans two more new branches soon, in Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani, he said.
The company yesterday opened its latest branch in the United Tower on Silom Road, making six outlets in and around Bangkok.
Mr Thanarat said Hua Seng Heng plans even more new branches despite the gold market slowing down now.
The hard times are affecting brokerage firms as well, and investors should look to other futures products such as US dollars as well, he said.
"Thai investors are not familiar with trading during market downtrends, and this has resulted in huge losses for gold futures investors during this period," said Mr Thanarat.
But he said demand for gold jewellery and bars is actually rising slightly, as Thais are more comfortable saving physical gold assets.
With the gold price remaining highly volatile, Mr Thanarat anticipates a support price of US$1,250 an ounce and resistance level of $1,300 an ounce this week.
"It really depends on what the US Federal Reserve ends up doing," said Mr Thanarat. "However, gold should move from $1,250 to $1,340 an ounce late this year, while locally 96.5% pure gold will move between 18,900 and 19,000 baht per baht-weight, with 20,000 baht possible."
He said SPDR, the world's largest gold fund, has cut its gold investment to 930 tonnes from a peak of 1,700 last year. However, some exchange-traded funds have retained their accumulated buys, resulting in prices being maintained at a certain level.
Mr Thanarat said that while local gold trading remains active and investors are still buying gold ornaments, gold futures remain volatile in a downward trend.