(Bloomberg) -- Thai stock exchange’s new chief plans to prioritize restoring investor confidence in the nation’s capital market that’s been dented by a number of corporate scandals, concerns over illegal short selling and a spell of political turmoil.
Asadej Kongsiri, a former Deloitte executive who took over as the president of Stock Exchange of Thailand last month, said the bourse has already taken a number of measures in recent months to address investor concerns, and he will now focus on speedier implementation.
“There are some plans being put in place and I will have to synchronize and integrate them for quick implementation,” Asadej said in his first press conference since taking over as SET’s chief. “A key priority is to restore investors’ trust and confidence. I admit that the trust and confidence have been affected recently.”
Asadej, 53, faces the challenge of sustaining a revival in trading volume and rally in the stocks in recent weeks in the wake of the appointment of Paetongtarn Shinawatra as Thailand’s new prime minister in August. Before the rebound, the benchmark index had lost about $190 billion in market value from its 2023 peak amid shrinking turnover.
The exchange along with the markets regulator have unveiled a raft of measures including mandatory registration for high-frequency traders and tighter disclosure norms to curb the so-called naked short selling of stocks. Regulators and law enforcement agencies have also stepped up a crackdown on perpetrators of corporate frauds, including at listed companies such as Energy Absolute Pcl, Stark Corp. and More Return Pcl.
The recovery in Thai stocks saw foreign investors buying a net $867 million of stocks in September, the first monthly inflows since April. That helped propel the benchmark index to its biggest quarterly gain since the fourth quarter of 2020. Still, portfolio investors are net sellers of $2.6 billion of Thai shares so far this year.
Stock Outlook
Asadej said the prospects for Thai stocks appeared good in the fourth quarter given that a stable government is in place and Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is showing signs of a strong recovery.
Thai investors remain bullish about stocks in the three months through November, according to a survey by the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations. The FETCO Investor Confidence Index — which measures the market conditions over the next three months — bounced back to a “bullish zone” in August, it said on Sept. 9.
Asadej is the first outsider in a decade to helm the Thai exchange. He has a master’s degree in business from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has worked at PTT Pcl, the country’s largest energy company, and Finansa Securities Pcl, according to the exchange.
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