Another year of growth seen for SET
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Bourse to keep attracting foreign funds: Krungsri Asset
The Stock Exchange of Thailand will become one of the most attractive bourses in Asia, with lucrative earnings growth in addition to an influx of foreign funds, according to Krungsri Asset Management Co.
“The Thai stock market this year is expected to see the fourth straight year of an upward trend, backed by economic growth with a moderate inflation rate. So the SET will be attractive again in foreign investors’ eyes,” the company’s chief investment officer, Prapas Tonpibulsak, said yesterday.
Gross domestic product is forecast to grow by 5.7 per cent this year and 4.8 per cent next year, buoyed by government measures. GDP is expected to maintain an annual growth rate of 5-6 per cent over the next few years, he said.
Prapas said the company projected earnings growth of Thai listed companies at 16 per cent this year and 15 per cent next year, while those of other Asian stock markets would see 12-per-cent annual growth this year and next.
Funds flowing into Asia, including Thailand, have sent the SET Index past 1,200 points as Krungsri Asset Management forecast previously, Prapas said.
The company is maintaining its SET Index target in the range of 900-1,200 points. If the index can stay above 1,000 points, it could hit 1,300 over the next few years, he said.
He added that year-to-date, fund inflows to Asia were US$7 billion (Bt215 billion), of which $1.8 billion has flowed into the Thai stock market, up 400 per cent year on year. Taiwan also gained from fund inflows with growth of 800 per cent year on year and India at 500 per cent.
Overseas investors bought Bt3.27 billion more of Thai stocks than they sold yesterday, according to data on the SET’s website.
The SET Index yesterday closed at 1,189.5 points, down 0.01 per cent.
Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, assistant governor for financial-market operations of the Bank of Thailand, said yesterday that funds were flowing into stock markets in this region because investors all over the world are more open to risks after the financial crises in the United States and the European Union have improved.
“There is more confidence resulting from the end of Greek’s debt-default crisis, which has resulted in fund inflows to stock markets,” she said, adding that many economic figures in the US had also improved.
However, she conceded that investors’ risk mode might be short-lived. “No one can know what will happen in the future. So what the BOT can do is monitor the situation closely.”
Chatrapee Tantixaterm, chief executive officer of Krung Thai Asset Management Co, said the company expected to see 20-per-cent growth in assets under management (AUM) this year, mainly driven by fixed-income funds. The company’s AUM by the end of last year was Bt106 billion, up 17 per cent from the year earlier.
