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Highlights of the
Thai capital market in 2012
In 2012, the Thai capital market was supported by excess liquidity in the global capital market and the growth of Thai
listed companies. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index rose 35.76% from the year earlier, becoming the best
performer in Asia and reaching a 17-year high. Also in 2012, total market capitalization and the turnover of SET and the
Market for Alternative Investment (mai) recorded new all-time highs.
Overview
In 2012, the world capital market was affected by economic slowdowns in the U.S., Europe and Japan, with many
countries facing political changes that affected their economic policies. However, easing monetary policies applied by some
central banks of major economic countries enhanced excess liquidity that benefited Thailand’s capital market.
The Thai capital market has recently improved in many dimensions, and was thus upgraded from Secondary Emerging
Market to Advanced Emerging Market status by FTSE in March 2012. Thai listed companies have made significant
improvements in corporate governance, as shown by their overall CG score ranking rising from 8th in Asia in 2007 to 3rd out
of 11 Asian countries in 2012, according to the Asian Corporate Governance Association. In addition, 4 Thai listed stocks were
added as components of the MSCI Global Standard Index, and another 9 were added to the MSCI Small Cap Index. Therefore,
at end-2012, 22 Thai stocks were included in the MSCI All-Country Asia (Excluding Japan) Index with 3.24% of its
investment weight in Thailand, up from 2.66% in 2011.
Thai listed companies performed well in 2012, with quick recoveries from the massive floods of 2011. Their revenue
and net profit continued growing in 2012.
These positive factors, and others, have benefited investment in the Thai capital market. By end-2012, the SET index
had increased by 35.76% over its end-2011 level, to close at 1,391.93 points, making it the best performer in Asia for that
period. In 2012, the SET index peaked at 1,397.19 points on December 27, which was its highest level since 1995, as it had
bottomed out at 1,036.21 points on January 4 of that year.
Meanwhile, the Market for Alternative Investment’s mai Index had risen by 57.32% over its end-2011 level, closing
the year at 415.68 points. It peaked at 415.89 on December 27 and had bottomed out at 266.91 points on January 4 of that
year.
Indices performance of Asian exchanges
Source: Bloomberg
China Taiwan Korea Malaysia MSCI-WEM Singapore Hong Kong India Philippines Thailand Indonesia
-21.68 -21.18
-10.98
-20.41
-17.04
-19.97
-24.64
-0.72
0.78 3.20 4.07
2011
1.54
8.87 9.38
15.15
20.61 22.96 25.82
35.76
9.84
12.94
32.95 2012