BANGKOK: Having been Asean’s top bourse for trading value since 2014, when it stole the crown from the Singapore Exchange, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) aims to retain its pole position by doubling its market value and average daily turnover in the next four years.
It is the SET’s uppermost goal to increase its average daily trading value to 100 billion baht by 2020 from the current 53 billion and boost its market capitalisation to 30 trillion baht from 15 trillion, Santi Kiranand, a senior executive vice-president and head of issuer marketing division, told the Bangkok Post in an exclusive interview. It will not be easy to double the market value in only four years, while it has taken 35-40 years to reach the current level, he said, adding that bolstering both demand and supply is the key to success.
Adding further real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure funds, encouraging more foreign-based firms to list on the Thai market, and raising market valuation are the SET’s main to strengthen demand, he said.
The Thai bourse must adopt different ways to increase demand and offer new products as the number of companies qualified to list on the SET and the second tier Market for Alternative Investment is small, said Mr Santi. The SET cannot rely solely on new listed companies to expand the market size in the future, he added. Unlike non-listed companies, the size of REITs is still small and has the potential to help increase the SET’s market value.
