Thai Bourse Average Derivatives Trading Surges 79% In First Half Of 2013

The Thailand Futures Exchange PCL (TFEX), under The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), reported a 79.5 percent year-on-year increase in average daily trading volume to 78,650 contracts per day, equal to an average daily trading value of THB 30.56 billion (approx. USD 1.02 billion), during the first six months of 2013 due to rising popularity of stock futures. Also, ten underlying stocks will be added to the stock futures offered on July 15. During the second half of the year, TFEX will expand its investor base by improving services and boosting liquidity of its USD futures and SET50 options.
 
TFEX Managing Director Kesara Manchusree said: “In the first half of 2013, TFEX’s average daily trading volume surged 79.5 percent to 78,650 contracts per day from 43,823 contracts per day in 2012. The total trading volume was 9,517,376 contracts. Of the total volume, 51.8 percent came from single stock futures, 31.3 percent from SET50 futures, 11.5 percent from gold futures, and 1.6 percent from USD futures. During January-June 2013, average daily trading value amounted to THB 30.56 billion (approx. USD 1.02 billion). The highest trading volume per day was on June 13 at 232,641 contracts per day.
 
Its stock futures has seen an outstanding rise in volume and become the most popular TFEX product, with a 3.6 percent on-year rise to 8,849 contracts, because of more active trade on the Thai bourse and the increase of underling securities from 30 to 50.  Another 10 new underlying securities, namely AP, BCH, BECL, BLA, HEMRAJ, LPN, MAJOR, RATCH, SPALI and TVO, will be added on July 15, bringing the total of underlying securities to 60, thus offering more alternatives for investors.
 
For SET50 futures, the average daily trading volume increased to 24,627 contracts per day, up 49.5 percent from 16,467 contracts per day in 2012. For gold futures, the average daily trading volume declined to 9,033 contracts per day, from 14,867 contracts per day in 2012, due to gold price drops this year and trading preference changes. In addition, TFEX and Thailand Clearing House Co., Ltd. agreed to lower trading and clearing fees (exchange fees) for SET50 futures and 50-baht gold futures from THB 50 to THB 35 per contract and for 10-baht gold futures from THB 10 to THB 7 per contract.  The reduction of exchange fees, aligning the Thai bourse with trading conditions of such derivatives in foreign markets, has been effective since May 2 and helped investors cut their trading costs.
 
TFEX’s education activities have been well-received by investors, such as TFEX Challenge Academy, which has welcomed three intakes of participants to intensive training, workshops and trade simulation; TFEX Technical Class, providing seminars on technical trading techniques, TFEX Futures Day, providing intensive information for TFEX trading, TFEX Open House, offering seminars for beginners and professional investors, and which will be held again during July 13-14 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok; and TFEX Station - an online stock trade education channel which allows investors to receive updated information and tune in for seminars at all times.
 
During the second half of 2013, TFEX will continue expanding its quality investor base through projects and activities such as TFEX Challenge Competition, which is a simulated trading competition on the Click2Win program, and TFEX Young Investment Consultant, which educates students about trading knowledge. Moreover, TFEX will continue promoting its products, particularly SET50 options, which is a very useful product for investment strategies. Lastly, TFEX will join Krung Thai Bank pcl in offering more convenient foreign exchange services to investors of USD futures to provide business operators with  more alternatives to efficiently manage foreign exchange risk,” Kesara concluded.