Thai exchanges have announced plans to enhance their offerings to investors. Thai markets continue to trade, despite political protests that have caused problems in the capital, Bangkok. In 2014, the SET index is up approximately 5%.
The Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX), which is part of the Stock Exchange of Thailand Group (SET), aims to introduce a new trading and clearing system in May and to increase liquidity throughout the year.
Due to the volatility of Thai indices and stock prices in 2013, TFEX amended stock futures’ rules by increasing position limits and reducing the minimum size required for block trade transaction of high notional-valued contracts.
TFEX now plans to upgrade its current products and services in order to increase liquidity, especially in SET50 index futures and options. For example, in February, US$ futures holders will be permitted to receive physical US dollars.
In addition, the SET says it expects brokers to launch more derivative warrants in the market this year. To make warrants more diversified and attractive for investors, the exchange has added more underlying assets, covering stocks in the SET100 Index, exchange-traded funds with underlying SET-listed securities and indices in various SET indices.