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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that the global economy in 2023 will grow at a slower pace than 3.4 percent in 2022 but it becomes more optimistic as seen by an upward revision of this year’s economic growth forecast to 2.9 percent from 2.7 percent projected in October last year. The brighter outlook eases investor concerns about the deep recession ahead as the taming inflation could encourage central banks to loosen monetary policy earlier than expected.
Senior Executive Vice President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Soraphol Tulayasathien said fund remained flown into Asian stock markets, particularly the Thai bourse, in January, buoyed by the continuity of the Thai economic turnaround coupled with China’s border reopening. Analysts therefore predicted that growth of foreign tourist arrivals to Thailand and export value is just around the corner and the Thai baht to the US dollar will retain an upward bias. Foreign investors bought a net THB 58 billion (approx. USD 1.75 billion) in Thai stocks and bonds.
Key highlights for December
- At end-January 2023, SET Index rose by 0.2 percent from the previous month to close at 1,671.46 points, in consistent with its regional peers. The benchmark index also increased by 5.6 percent in dollar terms.
- In January, SET Index was propelled by the industries that benefited from the country reopening and industry groups expected to deliver solid earnings in the final quarter of 2022. Compared to the end of 2022, Consumer Products, Technology, Services and Property & Construction industry groups fared better than SET Index.
- In January, SET’s and Market for Alternative Investment (mai)’s average daily trading value rose to THB 72.01 billion from THB 56.18 billion in the preceding month but fell 23.7 percent over the same period a year earlier.
- Foreign investors were net buyers for four consecutive months in January at THB 19 billion, raising their total net buy to THB 69.42 billion over the past four months (October 2022 – January 2023). Moreover, foreign investors dominated the highest trading value ratio for nine straight months.
- There were two companies listed on mai namely Master Style pcl (MASTER) and S.A.F. Special Steel pcl (SAF) in January, and Thailand’s IPO value this year remained among the highest in Asia.
- The Thai stock exchange's forward P/E ratio at end-January 2023 was 16.8 times, above the Asian stock markets' average of 12.6 times. The historical P/E ratio stood at 17.5 times, exceeding the Asian stock markets' average of 13.8 times.
- Dividend yield ratio at end-January 2023 was 2.75 percent, below the Asian stock markets' average of 3.00 percent.
Derivatives market
- For the first month of 2023, Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX)'s daily trading volume averaged 530,429 contracts, down 23.1 percent from the previous month due to the decline in trading volume of Single Stock futures and SET50 Index Futures.
