The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has reported a 31.5% decrease in securities trading volume in the year to January 2012. However, January’s figures show a 12.7% increase on the previous month, suggesting the hint of a slight recovery.
The results reveal that the combined average daily trading volume of the SET and its subsidiary Market for Alternative Investment was US$796 million, while daily trading volume of derivatives was down 6.1% versus the previous month at 28,104 contracts per day. The loss in derivatives was largely attributed to falling trading of SET50 Index futures and single stock futures.
Market capitalisation at the exchange was US$286.8 billion, up 5.8% on the previous month. Foreign investors purchased new Thai shares worth US$97 million in January, accounting for 24.5% of the exchange’s total trading volume that month.
Thailand’s fall in volumes is partly reflective of a parallel decline in Asia and especially China over the same period. Overall trading volumes across major Asian markets dropped to US$946 billion in January, according to Thomson Reuters, lower than the US$1.01 trillion traded in the last month of 2011 and the US$1.53 trillion recorded in January 2010.
The SET is planning to launch a new trading platform in Q3, as well as additional measures to improve liquidity across its equity and derivatives offerings. As part of a strategic review, the exchange will also add new derivatives products that it believes will attract greater foreign investment.