Roughly 154 billion baht in foreign capital has flowed into the Thai stock market since the beginning of the year, as foreign investors view the country's stock market as a safe haven among global peers, says the head of the bourse.
The Thai economy is on a recovery path, driven largely by tourism and exports.
The country is supported by high foreign capital reserves, while financial institutions have strong capital ratios with lower levels of non-performing loans.
These factors make investors view Thailand as resilient even if a global recession occurs next year, attracting foreign inflows to Thai equity, according to Stock Exchange of Thailand president Pakorn Peetathawatchai.
Mr Pakorn said the Thai stock market is recovering thanks to positive results for listed companies the past two quarters, while the overall economy has improved significantly.
The export and technology sectors have rebounded, while segments such as logistics, hotels and domestic consumption all show promise, he said.
Mr Pakorn is confident foreign investment will continue to flow in for the remainder of this year thanks to the strong economic data.
He said 40-50 companies plan to raise funds from initial public offerings on the SET and Market for Alternative Investment (MAI), with the total market capitalisation for these bourses anticipated to rise by about 250 billion baht.
On the investment side, new securities trading increased by 300,000 accounts in the first 10 months of this year, compared with 500,000 in 2020 and 650,000 in 2021.
The SET expects the average daily trading turnover for 2022 to reach 80-100 billion baht.
The SET Index in the first 10 months of 2022 was driven by industries helped by the country's reopening. Those that recorded a return that exceeded the SET Index year-to-date include the services, resources and real estate and construction sectors.
In October, the average daily turnover of the SET and MAI was 64 billion baht, a decrease of 27.5% from the same period last year. Foreign investors were net buyers of 7.47 billion baht for the month.
In the first 10 months of 2022, the average daily turnover was 80.2 billion baht. Foreign investors were net buyers of 154 billion baht during the period.
Foreign investors accounted for the highest trading volume for a grouping for six consecutive months.
In October, one new company listed on the SET and three on the MAI.
The return of the SET Index at the end of October was -2.9%, and in US$ terms was -15% because of the sharp depreciation of the baht.
The service sector outperformed the market, posting 6.1% growth, while the energy sector rose 1.6%.
The Thai stock market's yield is better than the Nasdaq, as tech stocks have declined by 35%, while the Dow Jones Index is down 10%.