Foreign investors reverted to being net buyers of Thai equities in July, with net purchases of US$437 million. That reversed the situation from June, where foreigners were net sellers.
Following a military coup that took place in Thailand during May, there was a brief period of uncertainty among investors overseas. With no resistance to the military intervention and the situation on the streets calmer than in pre-coup days, the appearance of stability seems to have incentivised foreign traders to return.
For the first seven months of 2014, foreign investors sold a net US$820 million of Thai stocks.
In July, daily average trading value at the Thai Stock Exchange was US$1.63 billion, up 8.6% from June 2014 and an increase of 15% year-on-year.
Thai market confidence was also boosted by performance among listed companies that was better than had been predicted by analysts.
Derivatives trading rose 257% to 195,494 contracts per day in July. That increase was largely driven by single stock futures.