Thailand’s stock market sees a ‘baht’ of foreign interest

Foreign investors have increased their holdings of Thai shares by 1.37% in the first eight months of 2024, reaching a total of 5.18 trillion baht, based on data from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). This rise highlights the growing interest in the technology, financial, and services sectors.

By August 2024, foreign investors held over 5.18 trillion baht (US$155 billion) in Thai shares, marking a 1.37% increase from the end of 2023. Their investments comprised 30.8% of the SET’s market capitalisation, which stood at 16.6 trillion baht (US$500 million) at the end of August.

The SET’s research department revealed that the top three sectors for foreign investment are technology, financial, and services, with a combined value of 3.81 trillion baht (US$114 billion). Within these sectors, the electronics component industry saw foreign ownership totalling 1.36 trillion baht (US$40 billion), followed by banks at 754 billion baht (US$22 billion), information and communication technology at 666 billion baht (US$20 billion), and energy and utilities at 648 billion baht (US$19.5 billion).

Approximately 75.2% of the shareholding value of foreign investors is in the MSCI Thailand index, mirroring the same period in 2023, according to the SET.

The list of the top five foreign investors on the SET remained consistent with the previous year. Investors from the UK led the rankings, followed by those from Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the US. The Netherlands, Japan, Taiwan, France, and Mauritius rounded out the top 10.

“The SET anticipated the holding of foreign investors increased in September given that Thai share prices rose by 6.6% last month, with net foreign buying of 28.9 billion baht (US$867 million),” stated the bourse.

The SET also mentioned that foreign investors returned to Thai stocks at the highest level in 22 months in September. This resurgence contributed to the rapid appreciation of the baht, driven by factors such as falling global interest rates, risk diversification into emerging market stocks, political clarity following the election of a new prime minister, and robust Thai economic indicators, reported Bangkok Post.

According to Daol Securities, the four most popular stocks among foreign investors in September were Bumrungrad Hospital (BH), Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS), CP ALL, and Gulf Energy Development (GULF), all of which continued to perform well.