Foreigners brush aside Thai shares

Foreigners brush aside Thai shares

Foreign investors will continue to underweight investment in the local stock market as long as Thailand's economic outlook remains weak, one survey suggests.

Voravan Tarapoom, chairwoman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations, said the Fetco survey's respondents including four major global institutional investors showed less interest in investing in the Thai market amid lighter-than-expected economic activity.

The survey also found internal political issues that could arise when a general election is called next year were a major point of concern.

On the other hand, the Fetco Nida Investor Sentiment Index revealed greater confidence among local institutions and retail investors this month, rising by 30.2% from last month to 102.72 points.

"They're confident the market will improve from being bearish in March to being normal in the near future," Mrs Voravan said.

Brokers shifted from bearish to bullish at 122.21 points, while retail and local institutions were neutral at 103.96 and 88.66 and foreign investors bearish at 76.92.

Mrs Voravan said the top investment sector in the latest survey was energy, while the worst was agriculture.

"The most positive factor is economic policy, and the most negative factor is local economic growth, while other factors that could affect market sentiment include the US Federal Reserve's interest rate policy," she said.

Santi Kiranand, executive vice-president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said foreign investors' trading volume made up 20% last month compared with 25% in April 2014.

Other types of traders remained stable, with retail the majority at 62%.

Trade value on the SET fell to 51 billion baht last month from 54 billion in March.

The SET plans to boost the proportion of institutional and foreign investors to 40-50% to balance trading and reduce market volatility.

"We'll continue to hold investment events both inbound and outbound to update investment information," Mr Santi said.

The SET also wants to increase listings from Greater Mekong Subregion countries, with the first secondary and dual listings to come by year-end or in early 2016.

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