Senior Executive Vice President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Soraphol Tulayasathien said that investors have been spooked by the US bond yield spikes which narrowed return spread between stocks and government bonds since September 2023. Concerns that Israel-Hamas war which is set to be prolonged and intensified into the regional conflict could exacerbate the rising oil prices and inflation, resulting in the volatility in oil prices and asset investments across the globe. However, the impacts on the Thai stock market are expected to be limited if the war remains contained in Israel only and lasts for a short period of time. Analysts are keeping eyes on Thai listed companies' third-quarter earnings, which are due to be completely announced late November 2023. Although the SET Index's earnings per share (EPS) growth forecast was trimmed from the beginning of this year, stocks in certain industry groups have performed well and their valuations are still below the historical average.
Key highlights for October
- At the end of October 2023, SET Index fell 6.1 percent from the previous month to close at 1,381.83 points, in line with other regional peers, and dropped 17.2 percent from the end of 2022.
- At the end of October 2023, industry groups that outperformed SET Index compared with the end of 2022 were Technology, Financials, Consumer Products and Services.
- In October 2023, SET's and Market for Alternative Investment (mai)'s average daily trading value fell 26.3 percent from the same period a year earlier to THB 47.21 billion (approx. USD 1.31 billion). Both markets' trading value averaged THB 55.33 billion a day for the first 10 months of 2023. Foreign investors were net sellers for the ninth straight month in October with a net of THB 15.65 billion. However, their trading ratio was the highest among other types of investors for 18 consecutive months.
- In October, there were four newly SET-listed companies comprising Tanachira Retail Corporation pcl (TAN), Window Asia pcl (WINDOW), Ornsirin Holding pcl (ORN), and Namwiwat Medical Corporation pcl (NAM). Another four companies listed on mai: Jenkongklai pcl (JPARK), Sirisoft pcl (SRS), Aesthetic Connect pcl (TRP), and Market Connections Asia pcl (MCA).
- The Thai stock exchange's forward P/E ratio at the end of October 2023 was 15.9 times, above the Asian stock market's average of 12.3 times. The historical P/E ratio stood at 21.1 times, exceeding the Asian stock market's average of 13.2 times.
- Dividend yield ratio at the end of September 2023 was 3.29 percent, below the Asian stock market's average of 3.53 percent.
Derivatives Market
- Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX)'s daily trading volume in October averaged 512,333 contracts, down 12.2 percent from the previous month largely due to the lower trading volume of SET50 Index Futures and Single Stock Futures. For the 10 months through October, TFEX's average daily trading volume decreased 2.6 percent over the same period last year to 545,176 contracts, mainly due to the decline in trading volume of Single Stock Futures.
Source: SET Corporate Communications
