Asia Plus Securities says strong baht draws fund flows, scans 17 stocks set to benefit

Analyst
โดย HoonVision·TH·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Asia Plus Securities assesses that the global investment landscape is facing challenges on all fronts, amid a sharper-than-expected slowdown in US employment, which fuels hopes that the Federal Reserve will hold its policy rate at the September meeting. Meanwhile, domestic factors are receiving a significant boost from the rapidly strengthening baht, supported by continued foreign inflows into the Thai bond market, with cumulative net purchases this month exceeding 9.2 billion baht. The baht recently touched 32.98 per US dollar. The research team has identified three main industry groups in Thailand that stand to benefit positively from the strong baht. The first group comprises large-cap stocks that are prime targets for foreign fund flows, including commercial banks such as KBANK, SCB, BBL, and KTB; retail and tourism plays like AOT, CPALL, and CRC; telecoms such as ADVANC and TRUE; and construction materials like SCC. The second group consists of companies with high foreign-currency debt or costs, including power and energy firms such as GULF, BGRIM, GPSC, and PTTEP, and airlines like AAV. The third group covers businesses that rely heavily on imported raw materials, including agriculture and food companies such as TFG and TVO. In addition, the research team recommends portfolio strategies to navigate volatility, highlighting safe-haven stocks combined with gold as a hedge, and names SYNTEC, PTT, and GUNKUL as top picks for the Thai stock market, along with LITE01 and ZIJIN80 for overseas investment.

Impact on stocks 22

Energy Transition & Power Demand · 6 stocks
Industrials · 3 stocks
Digital Finance & Tokenization · 3 stocks
Bangkok Bank PCL
BBL
▲ PositiveDemandrelevance

Strong baht attracts foreign inflows into Thai banks, benefiting BBL.

Financials · 2 stocks
Cloud & Digital Infrastructure · 2 stocks
Consumer Discretionary · 1 stocks
Climate Adaptation & Water · 1 stocks
Consumer Staples · 1 stocks
Energy · 1 stocks
Artificial Intelligence · 1 stocks
Others · 1 stocks