Finance Ministry to tackle ‘inappropriate behaviours’ in SET index
Plans being drawn up to weed out problems in stock market and revive long-term equity funds, ministry says
The Finance Ministry has laid out plans to boost investment in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) after the market plunged on Monday morning to a new low in four years at 1,313.26 points.
The SET index closed on Monday afternoon at 1,318.57 points, decreasing 14.17 points or 1.06% with a total trade volume of 38.32 billion baht.
Commenting on the drop in the capital market on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said that the ministry plans to investigate each section of the market to identify the problematic ones and deploy suitable measures accordingly.
“Stocks are related to trust and confidence, so we must deal with investors displaying inappropriate behaviours to allow newcomers to enter the market. The ministry will need some time to form a strategy,” said Pichai, who served as SET chairman before assuming the Finance Minister position.
Pichai said that another measure to boost investment in the capital market is the revival of long-term equity funds (LTFs), which will also help promote saving habits among the public by offering tax benefits.
“LTFs will definitely happen,” he said. “We are working on selecting suitable funds as well as setting their amount and duration which will generate most profits to both investors and the economy,” he said.
Pichai added that SET will work with the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations (FETCO) and Revenue Department to iron out final details of LTF’s tax benefits, while the government will also be working on attracting foreign companies to establish LTFs.
