Time for a little update of our chart about the SET, with the net foreign trading (buy minus sell, in millions THB).
There was a light improvement in february with an index at 432… Along with a higher foreign net trading (although still in negative territory).
Unfortunately, this move doesn’t seem sustainable… The SET closed monday at 411 points…
We are at -54 % compared to the highest point (907 in october 2007).
Asia for the most part saw increased foreign flows in February, but it was all short term, not the start of a new trend.
As for Thailand, we wil not see a reversal of foreign flows anytime soon, and even when the tide does turn, Thai stocks wil be competing with an entire world full of ‘bargains’. An example, why risk cash with PTT when Chevron can be bought at log term support near USD50.
Absolutely better bargains elsewhere. In the US tech stocks: Apple computer, even with the imminent retirement of CEO Steve Jobs. Or HSBC in HK. Or Honda in Japan – all of which will emerge stronger from this crisis.
TC, this touches on the issue:
Sriyan Pietersz, head of research at JP Morgan Chase in Bangkok believes the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has already allowed the baht to slide around 4% so far this year to “catch up” with Singapore, where the currency has fallen this year around 7.5% against the US dollar. “There is no strength or stability in the baht,” Pietersz says, noting that the BoT has recently narrowed its forward contracts in defense of the baht to around $5 billion from $26 billion. “The question is how they will manage the downward adjustment.”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KC12Ae02.html