The Thai stock exchange ended the year on a positive note with the SET index rising 14.37% year-on-year from 1,449.35 points to 1,657.62 points on the last trading day of 2021, suggesting a bullish start for the stock market in 2022.
According to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), the Thai initial public offering (IPO) market has been active in 2021 with 23 public market debuts, up from 16 in 2020.
The IPOs raised the total number of SET-listed firms from 568 companies in 2020 to 593, the Thai bourse said.
Trading accounts stood at 2,129,035 as of Dec 30, 2021, up from 1,506,068 in 2020, with 792,184 active.
Stock trading also become more digitalised in 2021 as the total trading value via online platforms rose from 11.47 trillion baht in 2020 to 18.51 trillion baht as of Dec 29, 2021, the SET said.
That represents 41.07% of the SET's total market trading value of 21.31 trillion baht.
The total trading value rose 30.27% from 16.36 trillion baht in 2020 while the average daily trading value was at 88.44 billion baht, up 31.36% from 67.33 billion baht in 2020.
The SET's total market capitalisation ran into 19.58 trillion baht in 2021, up 21.58% from 16.12 trillion baht in 2020 with a dividend yield of 2.10% compared to 2020's 3.32%.
The market's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio dropped to 20.78 times from 28.84 times in 2020.
Fewer foreign funds flowed out of the market as foreign investors' net selling dropped from 264.39 billion baht in 2020 to 48.78 billion baht.
Meanwhile, retail investors were net buyers of 112.24 billion baht in 2021, down from 216.71 billion baht in 2020.
Besides the SET, the Market for Alternative Investment (mai) Index also fared better in 2021.
It reported a sharp rise of 73.10% year-on-year, while the total listed firms on the exchange increased from 175 to 183 companies.
The mai's total trading value increased to 1.3 trillion baht, up 321.2% from 2020.
The daily average trading value was 5.4 billion baht, up 324.69% from 2020.
Its market capitalisation stood at 471.98 billion baht, up 100.82% from 2020, while the P/E ratio was at 58.21 times, compared to 2020's 72.59 times.
Meanwhile, the total trading volume on the Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX) stood at 135,117,307 contracts in 2021, up 12.42% from 2020.
The TFEX's daily average trading volume reached 560,653 contracts, up from 13.35% in 2020, while its total outstanding volume was 3,763,547 contracts, up 71% from 2020.
The main products with the highest trading volume on the TFEX in 2021 were single-stock futures with a total trading volume of 70,326,055 contracts, followed by SET50 Index futures with a trading volume of 47,620,961 contracts.