Anyone Investing In The Thailand Stock Market?

[ExpatJ]

hi

I arrived one year ago in Bangkok, but have just started investing in the Thai SET...anyone else here doing this? would be great to meet some fellow investors to swap tips and ideas.

So far i am using siam commercial bank securities as my broker, they seem to be very good - but I want to switch to an online trading site to cut down commission costs- any recommendations?

cheers

Expatj

[MattFS218]

I've used KimEng for the past 4 years and have been very pleased. However most of my Thailand exposure is via the Closed Ended funds TF and TTF traded on US Stock Exchanges. At least for Americans the reporting of offshore trades gets too complicated with multiple accounts and currency conversions. Plus TF and TTF currently sell for 15% discounts off their NAV. Be careful tho, I've been reducing my Asia exposure as I think the dollar will gain and Asia stocks will struggle this year.

[ExpatJ]

Thanks for the tip- Kimeng ill check it out- what commission to you pay there? The only other one i saw was siam comm. bank who have their own online system.

I am actually a brit so am only taxed 10% by the thai government on any earnings here on the stock exchange and no reporting obligations to UK govt.

Interesting your take on the $- im actually doing the opposite , moving some of my US$ into the Thai stock exchange as i think the $ will weaken alot more..

In Asia i am worried about the housing bubble in China, but have confidence overall and have a HSBC BRIC mutual fund (which rode out the crash last year amazingly)- the 10% annual economic growth announced by China this morning should give it a leg up.

I also bought into the Indonesia stock exchange 2 years, but my minerals based stocks crashed last year (even so the dividend payments were quite good).

[PoeDogg]

Check out Interactive Brokers for low commissions.

[332453231TAC]

Check out thaistocks.com Very informative and professional.

[Orion76]

Check out Interactive Brokers for low commissions.

I don't think IB provides access to SET

[thecottonmill]

Hi, I'm from the UK also, here on a non-imm B visa. I've been investing in the Thai stocks for the last year or so...just jumped in blindly and due to economic circumstances I've done ok. I didn't realise we had to pay any tax...when do they collect that? Or do we have to report it?

I've been using Tisso which I think is quite expensive but the service has been second to none.

Have you started yet? Now looks like a good time with the SET coming down some 8% in the last 7-10 days.

Thanks for the tip- Kimeng ill check it out- what commission to you pay there? The only other one i saw was siam comm. bank who have their own online system.

I am actually a brit so am only taxed 10% by the thai government on any earnings here on the stock exchange and no reporting obligations to UK govt.

Interesting your take on the $- im actually doing the opposite , moving some of my US$ into the Thai stock exchange as i think the $ will weaken alot more..

In Asia i am worried about the housing bubble in China, but have confidence overall and have a HSBC BRIC mutual fund (which rode out the crash last year amazingly)- the 10% annual economic growth announced by China this morning should give it a leg up.

I also bought into the Indonesia stock exchange 2 years, but my minerals based stocks crashed last year (even so the dividend payments were quite good).

[lannarebirth]

Check out Interactive Brokers for low commissions.

I don't think IB provides access to SET

That is correct.

[ExpatJ]

Interesting- are you a day trader?

The bank told me about the tax...they said it would be taken off automatically..not sure if thats the case if you trade online yourself ...

Of course, i bought into the market just days before the current slump- which is my standard MO when it comes to investing unfortunately!

Hi, I'm from the UK also, here on a non-imm B visa. I've been investing in the Thai stocks for the last year or so...just jumped in blindly and due to economic circumstances I've done ok. I didn't realise we had to pay any tax...when do they collect that? Or do we have to report it?

I've been using Tisso which I think is quite expensive but the service has been second to none.

Have you started yet? Now looks like a good time with the SET coming down some 8% in the last 7-10 days.

Thanks for the tip- Kimeng ill check it out- what commission to you pay there? The only other one i saw was siam comm. bank who have their own online system.

I am actually a brit so am only taxed 10% by the thai government on any earnings here on the stock exchange and no reporting obligations to UK govt.

Interesting your take on the $- im actually doing the opposite , moving some of my US$ into the Thai stock exchange as i think the $ will weaken alot more..

In Asia i am worried about the housing bubble in China, but have confidence overall and have a HSBC BRIC mutual fund (which rode out the crash last year amazingly)- the 10% annual economic growth announced by China this morning should give it a leg up.

I also bought into the Indonesia stock exchange 2 years, but my minerals based stocks crashed last year (even so the dividend payments were quite good).

[MattFS218]

I use IB too, and love em.

but they do not have direct access to the SET-- only thru the closed ended funds TF and TTF which are thai invested funds trading on the US stock markets.

when I looked into buying on the SET kimeng online had the lowest commission...but all were about the same...but some had discounts for online transactions (kim eng being one of them)..

my account manager at Kim Eng is superb....i've posted his name here once or twice before...excellent email support and very professional....

but Margin is a bitch to get in Thailand.....not that I'm leveraged anywhere right now.

[Time Traveller]

I am actually a brit so am only taxed 10% by the thai government on any earnings here on the stock exchange and no reporting obligations to UK govt.

I think you might be taxed a little higher than that! For dividends, if you own NVDRs you will pay 10% withholding tax after the company has already paid it's corporate tax rate, which could be as high as 30%.

If you own Foreign shares you will still pay withholding tax at 10% (unless it's from BOI promoted investment in which case tax rate is zero) but you'll also get tax credits from the corporate taxes that the company paid. This is quite useful if you're a Thai tax resident since you could get up to 37% tax credit on dividends paid to you. So if you include these in you tax assessment for the year you should get a good tax refund from these tax credits. (Unless of course your salary is in the top Tax rate already).

Capital gains are of course tax free.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Time Traveller