Foreign investors sell off Thai shares for 27 consecutive days

The index closed at 1,300.96 points on Friday, down 8.50 points or 0.65 per cent compared to its close on Thursday. Transactions, meanwhile, totalled 54.52 billion baht.

Foreign investors have made net sales of 51.63 billion baht in Thai shares since May 21, of which 34.87 billion baht was made in June alone. Net foreign sales totalled 117.03 billion baht over the past six months of this year.

An analyst at Asia Plus Securities noted that the last time foreign investors had made net sales of Thai stocks for 27 consecutive days – totalling 23 billion baht – was 30 years ago, in 1994, ahead of the Asian financial crisis triggered by the collapse of the baht.

It was followed by sell-offs for 26 consecutive days during the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. The economic crisis between 2007 and 2010, triggered by the collapse of the US housing bubble and high interest rates, led to unprecedented numbers of borrowers missing mortgage repayments.

The other crises that triggered foreign investors’ mass sell-offs of Thai shares were the dot-com bust, US-China trade war, Black May and the Covid-19 pandemic, the analyst added.

However, Asia Plus Securities holds a positive view of the Thai stock market for the second half of this year, saying that it would gain positive sentiment from Thailand’s economic recovery, SET’s new trading rules and new funds that will be included in the market.