Capital inflows worth 20-50 billion baht are forecast to move into Thailand's stock market between March and April, attributed to investors' historical investment appetite in purchasing dividend stocks, says Tisco Securities.
Based on historical statistics from the past seven years, about 70% of trading in Thailand's stock market between March and April is buying because investors will start investing in dividend stocks before SET-listed firms announce their dividend payments, said Viwat Techapoonphol, deputy managing director of Tisco Securities.
Investors typically buy stocks after the Chinese New Year and will hold them for about one month, Mr Viwat said. If investors sell stocks by the end of March, they will receive an investment return averaging 2.8%, rising to 4.8% if sold in April, he said.
"We expect foreign investors to embark on heavy purchases because they sold Thai stocks from October 2017 to February 2018 worth 80 billion baht," Mr Viwat said. "For the past five years, foreign investors sold Thai stocks worth 370 billion baht, investing in other Asian bourses, but they may return to receive dividend payments."
For March and April, Tisco Securities views the SET index as having support at 1,790 points and 1,850-1,880 points for resistance.
The firm is maintaining its year-end target of 1,950 points, with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 17.2 and growth in earnings per share of 12%.
Stocks offering a 2.5% dividend payment in March include BBL, SCB, AEONTS, EGCO, PTTGC, SCC, LH and ANAN.
