Thai share prices closed 1.65 percent higher on Monday with investors reacting belatedly to China's decision to revalue its currency by 2.1 percent, dealers said. They noted the decision to revalue the yuan to 8.1 to the dollar from 8.28 was announced on Thursday evening and the Thai market was closed Friday for a public holiday, hence investors were trading on the decision Monday.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index gained 10.72 points to 659.64 and the blue chip SET 50 index was up 8.78 points to 463.95.
Gainers led losers 210 to 90 and 81 stocks were unchanged on trading of 1.43 billion shares worth 10.9 billion baht (264 million dollars).
KGI Securities head of research Pat Pattapongse said investors were "doing a bit of catch up," after a shortened trading week.
As "people are viewing Thailand as a net beneficiary" from China's decision, "the movers today were big cap shares that are a natural haven for foreign fund flows," especially oil giant PTT, Pat said.
Following China's announcement the Thai baht dropped about 6.0 percent against the dollar, meaning Thailand was in a better trading position than China, Pat added.
Major indices closed up, led by communication which added 2.48 percent to 96.15, energy added 2.34 percent to 13,497.41, banking added 2.05 percent to 231.23 while finance and securities gained 0.52 percent to 1,050.53.
Kasikornbank added 2.50 baht to 56.50, while Bangkok Bank closed unchanged at 98.00, while Siam Commercial Bank added 1.00 baht to 44.50 baht.
PTT Plc added 6.00 to 222.00 and PTT Exploration and Production gained 12.00 to 404.00. Siam Cement added 2.00 to 222.00, and Thai Airways International closed 0.50 higher to 40.00. Advance Info Service closed 2.50 higher at 99.00 while United Communication rose 1.00 to 47.75.
Comments
Comments are closed.