Investment in foreign stocks has risen exponentially as Thais rush to buy high-growth stocks in global markets after recently being allowed to do so through local brokers, while Thai stocks remain volatile during the pandemic.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), revenues from global stock trading through local brokers for the first half this year grew more than 200%, from the same period last year, said M.L. Thongmakut Thongyai, chief executive of Krungthai Zmico Securities (KTZ).
He said KTZ's trade value for global stocks this year has steadily risen by around 50% to around 10 billion baht.
M.L. Thongmakut said the company aims to become a leader in foreign stock investments after achieving its target revenue and seeing a significant increase in customers.
He said one of the company's keys to success can be attributed to the application "KTZ Inter Trade", a platform for foreign stock trading that is user-friendly and displays real-time prices of global stocks.
"It is currently the only trading system and application on the market that allows traders to view prices and trade foreign securities in real-time without additional fees," M.L. Thongmakut said.
Many stock markets around the world have high growth potential, he said.
The prospects for foreign stock markets this year remain positive, especially in places that have an opportunity to recover quickly because of mass vaccination, said M.L. Thongmakut.
"Investment in foreign securities is an option that will help investors diversify risk and find high returns," he said.
According to M.L. Thongmakut, the most popular stock markets for local investors are the US, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
KTZ provides stock trades from 30 bourses in 20 countries.
Investors can track the prices of US and European stocks in real time on the app and trade instantly if they want, even during the night, he said.
The company ranks in the top three Thai brokerages with the highest amount of foreign stocks traded by volume, said M.L. Thongmakut.
For Thai stock trades, KTZ maintained a market share of 2.6% for the first six months this year, ranking 15th in the industry, he said.
Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations, said the European, US and Chinese stock markets will continue to grow this year thanks to an economic recovery and extensive vaccination programmes, while emerging markets including Thailand still suffer from outbreaks.