The Thai stock market slid 1.6% in April from the previous month, in line with other bourses in the region, but still recorded growth in foreign fund inflows despite global supply chain issues.
In April 2022, the average daily trading value on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) tallied 82.3 billion baht, down 11.8% from April 2021.
Daily trading value also dropped below the first-quarter average of 93.2 billion baht.
With the Ukraine war causing commodities prices to rise and China's zero-Covid policy aggravating global supply chain issues, the IMF expects a global economic slowdown and downgraded its forecast for the year.
The Thai bourse has managed a 0.6% increase year-to-date and a dividend yield of 2.66%, above the Asian stock market average of 2.51%.
In April, foreign investors were net buyers of 9.78 billion baht, contributing to a total of 118 billion for the first four months this year.
While domestic retail investors account for the largest portion of the daily turnover at 43.8%, foreign stock investors accounted for 41.5%.
Foreign investors have been net buyers for five consecutive months.
Pakorn Peetathawatchai, president of the SET, cited multiple reasons for the rising foreign stock investment, such as Thailand's reopening, manageable inflation rates as well as a strong export outlook.
"Thai stocks slightly declined in April, but are still stable compared with their peers," said Soraphol Tulayasathien, senior executive vice-president of the SET.
He said most Asian stock markets have declined this year, including the Philippines (-5.5%), Japan (-6.8%), Vietnam (-8.8%) and China (-16.3%).
Only three markets in the region reported growth: Malaysia (2.1%), Singapore (7.5%) and Indonesia (9.8%).