Thai Bourse Market Report For April

• Daily average trading volume down 18.63 pct m-o-m due to holidays
• Derivatives trading down 15 pct month-on-month at 34,556 contracts per day
• Market cap at THB 10.11 trillion, up 20.21 pct from end-2011
   
  The Stock Exchange of Thailand’s (SET) securities trading volume in April fell 18.63 percent from the previous month and down 22.55 percent from a year earlier, due mainly to long holidays in April. However, the SET main index climbed up to the second best performer in Asia, supported by positive expectations of Thai companies’ quarterly results.
   
  From January to April, foreign investors were net buyers of Thai shares worth THB 84.37 billion (approx. USD 2.72 billion), the highest foreign net buying during this period over the last six years.

The SET main index ended April at 1,228.49 points. The index has risen 19.82 percent since the start of this year, the second best performer in Asia (after Vietnam).
     
Combined average daily trading volume of SET and Market for Alternative Investment (mai) was at THB 27.89 billion (approx. USD 900 million), while daily trading volume of derivatives was down 14.97 percent from a month ago, at 34,556 contracts per day.

Key highlights for April

Securities

• Combined market capitalization of SET and mai was at THB 10.11 trillion (USD 326 billion), up 20.21 percent from the end of 2011, and market valuation of mai was at THB 98.44 billion (USD 3.18 billion), up 27.34 percent.
• Forward P/E ratio for SET was at 12.82 times, up from 12.60 at end-March, but near the year-ago figure of 12.86. mai’s forward P/E ratio increased to 12.38 times from 10.45 a year ago and 11.68 at the end of March.
• The dividend yield of SET was at 3.38 percent at the end of April, down from 3.53 percent a year earlier and down from 3.63 percent at end-March. mai’s dividend yield was at 2.34 percent.
• Foreign investors were net buyers for the fifth straight month. They purchased Thai shares worth a net THB 1.24 billion in April, accounting for 27.90 percent of total trading volume, the highest proportion over the last four years.
• Listed companies raised funds through equity worth a combined THB 3.56 billion in April. Of that, THB 3.30 billion was from initial public offerings (IPOs) of Land
• and Houses Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund, and THB 261 million was from secondary equity offerings. In the first four months of this year, a total of THB 38.49 billion was raised through the Thai stock market.
• Assets under management of equity mutual funds rose 5.9 percent from the end of last year, while long-term equity fund assets climbed 4.3 percent. Expiration of many fixed-income funds in April resulted in falls of their assets under management.
       
  Derivatives

• Derivatives trading volume dropped 14.97 percent from a month earlier to an average of 34,556 contracts per day, caused by falling trading of all products. From January to April, the average daily trading volume was at 34,984 contracts. 
• Average daily trading of 50-baht gold futures and 10-baht gold futures dropped from a month ago to 3,410 and 8,595 contracts, respectively.