SET Index drops 3.3% at end of August
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index dropped 3.3 per cent at the end of August compared to the previous month, but gained 5.8 per cent from end-2018 to 1,654.92 points.
The average daily trading value of SET and the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) in August surged 30 per cent from a year earlier to Bt65.36 billion. Foreign investors were net sellers of Thai shares at Bt54.26 billion.
SET senior executive vice president Soraphol Tulayasathien said the index in August moved in tandem with other regional bourses, weighed down by worries over lingering trade tensions between the United States and China, and the protests in Hong Kong.
Moreover, a potential no-deal Brexit is threatening the global economic turnaround and profitability of listed companies, which export electronic components, industrial products and petroleum. It is advisable for investors to closely monitor these external factors, he said.
At the end of August, SET’s forward and historical P/E ratios were a respective 16.5 and 18.8 times compared to the average of its Asian peers of 14.3 and 15.6 times, respectively.
The SET’s dividend yield ratio was 3.11 per cent at end-August, surpassing the MSCI Emerging Market average ratio of 2.95 per cent.
The combined market capitalisation of SET and MAI at the end of August rose 7 per cent from end-2018 to Bt17.9 trillion, in line with the SET Index.
Funds mobilised through IPOs during the eight months through August were Bt22.84 billion.
Meanwhile, the average daily derivatives trading volume in August soared 33 per cent from the first half to 504,536 contracts, Soraphol said.
