Thai stocks may rise; bargain hunting seen

BANGKOK: Thai stocks may rise on Monday, encouraged by gains in global markets after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for further action to stimulate the economy.

Investors were expected to hunt for bargains after recent heavy selling, though most market players would be on the sidelines amid holidays in several Southeast Asian countries this week, brokers said.

"The SET index may continue to recover amid positive sentiment of external markets and after drastic selling of Thai stocks," said broker Phillip Securities.

The benchmark Thai stock index rebounded 1.2 percent on Friday to 1,037.22, after earlier falling to a two-month low, as dividend announcements by blue chips lured some buyers back to the market, led by a 2.6 percent rise in PTT .

But the benchmark still lost about 3 percent on the week as worries about the weak US economy and European debt crisis prompted investors to dump riskier assets.

Domestic institutions and retail investors led buyers on Friday, buying shares worth a net $86.7 million and $53.4 million, respectively, stock exchange data showed.

The market saw foreign outflows of $140 million on Friday, brgining the total to $1.39 billion so far this month and erasing $1.26 billion of inflows in July when foreign investors rebuilt Thai stock positions following the July 3 general election.

The broader Asian stock market rose on Monday, with the MSCI index of Asia excluding Japan up 1.8 percent.

Copyright Reuters, 2011