Bangkok--14 Aug--SET
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) continues to promote mutual fund investment among investors, through its cooperation with the Association of Investment Management Companies (AIMC), in the "Mutual Fund Fair" event, during August 14-15 at SET's building, encouraging Thais to gradually buy long-term equity funds (LTF) and retirement mutual funds (RMF) units.
The event focuses on investing in equity funds generating long-term higher returns, proven by an average return of equity funds in the past five years at 13 percent with the high-record return of 21 percent during the period.
SET President Kesara Manchusree said the recent statistics has found that long-term equities investment generated the highest return comparing with other asset investments. Managed by professional fund managers and various alternatives available, including the equity funds invested in SET50, SET100 and mai, as well as by sector such as Energy or Banking sectors, nowadays Thailand's equity funds have gained increasing popularity among investors, especially beginners.
"It should be timely for investors to gradually buy the LTF and RMF units for long-term returns to cope with the current slowdown of the Thai bourse, considering from prime performance of the Thai listed firms in H1/2015, promising growth of potential stocks and positive views towards long-term investment in the Thai market from domestic and foreign institutional investors," added Kesara.
AIMC Chairperson Vorawan Tarapoom said, "Investors have become increasingly familiar with mutual funds as it has been designed and developed to be effective investment tools not only for liquidity management, but also as reserved money for emergency plan or for other purposes such as for retirement.
Significantly, both Thai and foreign equity funds have gained increasing popularity among investors, the number of unit holders has increased continuously, rising more than 20 percent per year in the past five years. Besides, an average return on Thai equity fund was at 13 percent and reached as high as 21 percent in the past five years, while LTF and RMF equities fund generated 11 percent average returns and reached as high as 17 percent."
As of July, 31 2015, the net asset value (NAV) of mutual fund in Thailand was THB 4.09 trillion (approx. USD 120.6 billion). Meanwhile, the number of mutual fund accounts has continuously increased to 4,378,931 accounts, as of June 2015, resulting from the success of mutual fund industry as a whole and mutual fund education through "Let your money work through mutual funds" campaign led by SET and AIMC, Vorawan said.
The event, under the "Let your money work through equity funds" and "Buy now LTF" concepts, this year showcases more than 1,500 funds from 15 leading asset management companies. It provides consultation from asset management companies with intensive seminars featuring investment techniques, inclusive of portfolio management and tax-incentive calculation tips from fund experts. For more information, please contact www.thaimutualfundnews.com, or call S-E-T Contact Center: 0 2229 2222