Thai bourse, again, posts highest trading value in ASEAN

BANGKOK, January 6 (TNA) - The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) posted the highest trading value in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the third consecutive year in 2014, when the market capitalization of its initial public offerings (IPO) also exceeded 300 billion baht. SET President Kesara Manchusree told journalists on Tuesday that the trading value of the Thai bourse last year totaled 45,466.49 million baht a day, the highest in ASEAN for the third consecutive year despite impacts from the domestic situation in the first half, while the total trading volume of futures, Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX), amounted to 147,025 contracts per day. In the third quarter alone, Kesara reported, the number of stock-trading accounts exceeded one million for the first time, resulting from public interest in investment and SET campaigns with securities firms and banks to reach potential investors nationwide. Besides, the number of investors’ accounts with online trading totaled 779,318 as of the end of November 2014, a nearly 30 per cent surge from a year earlier, and it has been growing steadily, prompting the Thai stock market to plan to further develop access to investment information through websites and social media this year to serve the digital lifestyle of investors. According to the SET president, there were 45 newly-listed stocks in 2014 with their combined market capitalization, based on their IPO prices, at 304,796.99 million baht. The SET president foresaw a close number of newly-listed stocks on the Thai bourse in 2015. (TNA)