Thailand's mutual fund industry registered a net asset value of 5.28 trillion baht in the first quarter, up 2.58% or 133 billion baht from the end of 2023, backed by strong growth of fixed income funds and foreign investment funds (FIFs).
According to the Association of Investment Management Companies (AIMC), fixed income funds had a net asset value of 2.45 trillion baht, up 3.85% or 91 billion baht from the end of 2023, while FIFs tallied 1.11 trillion baht, a gain of 6% or 62.9 billion baht over the same period.
Equity funds totalled 1.64 trillion baht, up 42.5 billion baht or 2.67%, as the net asset value of real estate investment trusts surged 3.88% or 9 billion baht to 241 billion over the same period.
Infrastructure funds tallied 365 billion baht, down 3.3 billion or 0.9% for the period.
Mixed funds' net asset value amounted to 327 billion baht, down 6.6 billion or 1.97%, while money market funds tallied 265 billion baht, up 6.8 billion or 2.62% from the end of 2023, the AIMC noted.
Thailand ESG funds totalled 6.6 billion baht, up 26.4% or 1.39 billion.
Retirement mutual funds recorded a net asset value of 431 billion baht, an increase of 10.3 billion or 2.43%.
Super Savings Funds had a net asset value of 59.8 billion baht, up 5 billion or 9.2%, while long-term equity funds tallied 294 billion baht, a decline of 6.06% or 16.1 billion from the end of 2023.
The top three asset management firms by market share are Kasikorn Asset Management, SCB Asset Management (SCBAM) and BBL Asset Management, which have a net asset value of 1.17 trillion baht (22.2% market share), 973 billion baht (18.4% market share) and 759 billion baht (14.4% market share), respectively.
Krungthai Asset Management ranked fourth with a net asset value of 591 billion baht (11.2% market share), followed by Krungsri Asset Management (4.02% market share) with a net asset value of 434 billion baht.
Narongsak Plodmechai, chief executive of SCBAM, said the mutual fund industry this year is expanding in line with the country's GDP growth.
The increase is on par with the gain in 2023, said Mr Narongsak.
"The investment landscape this year remains volatile because of many factors such as interest rate policy, geopolitical conflicts and domestic economic conditions," he said.
"FIFs and fixed income funds remain attractive for investment under these conditions."