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Investor appetite for stock market in September 2023 was whittled down following a market correction, particularly in growth and technology stocks. The stock market fall could be attributed to US bond yield spikes after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the policy rate on hold at September’s meeting as expected and ruled out US recession this year. The US central bank’s tightening cycle is seemed to last longer than expected and this propels US dollar rally. For oil, its global price increased after major producers still maintained their output.
Senior Executive Vice President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Soraphol Tulayasathien said that the Bank of Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised rate in September’s meeting. Most of analysts are optimistic over the Thai economy in this year and next on the back of domestic consumption, tourism and export turnaround but fund outflows were seen in several stock markets in Asia in September due to fund repatriation to US bonds, the firmer US dollar and China’s fragile economy. The outflows weakened US dollar’s counterparts, especially the baht which substantially declined. However, foreign investors still wait for the right timing to come back to the Thai stock market in the wake of progress in the government’s economic policies, the baht direction, and Thailand’s economic recovery.
Key highlights for September
- At the end of September 2023, SET Index fell 6.0 percent from the previous month to close at 1,471.43 points, in line with other regional peers, and dropped 11.8 percent from the end of 2022.
- At the end of September 2023, industry groups that outperformed SET Index when compared with the end of last year comprised Technology, Financials, Consumer Products and Services.
- In September 2023, SET’s and Market for Alternative Investment (mai)’s average daily trading value fell 34.1 percent from the same period a year before to THB 49.46 billion (approx. USD 1.35 billion). Both markets’ trading value averaged THB 56.22 billion a day for the first nine months of 2023. Foreign investors were net sellers for the eighth straight month in September with a net position of THB 22.44 billion. However, their trading ratio was the highest among other types of investors for 17 consecutive months.
- In September, there were three newly SET-listed companies comprising Samart Aviation Solutions pcl (SAV), Sino Logistics Corporation pcl (SINO), and Thai Coconut pcl (COCOCO). A company was also listed on mai in the month: Genesis Fertility Center pcl (GFC)
- The Thai stock exchange’s forward P/E ratio at the end of September 2023 was 16.5 times, above the Asian stock market’s average of 12.8 times. The historical P/E ratio stood at 22.5 times, exceeding the Asian stock market’s average of 14.7 times.
- Dividend yield ratio at the end of September 2023 was 3.15 percent, below the Asian stock market’s average of 3.39 percent.
Derivatives market
- Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX)’s daily trading volume in September averaged 583,283 contracts, up 10.4 percent from the previous month largely due to the increase in trading volume of SET50 Index Futures and Single Stock Futures. For the January-to-September of 2023, TFEX’s average daily trading volume decreased 2.8 percent over the same period last year to 548,766 contracts, mainly due to the lower trading volume of Single Stock Futures.
