If One Had A Few Million Baht...

[ChiangMaiFun]

SET mutual funds? if so which ones? any other places? not too high risk?

MUST be in Thailand and not include property - so talking about the financial sector

[chiangmaibruce]

There was a long-running thread on the same topic here on TV not that long ago (a few months back?).

Anyway there is no set-in-cement answer as it depends on lots of variables like the characteristics of the individual investor asking the question. For the purpose of this thread you might need to keep it really simple, i.e. ignore relative risks of different options, ignore exotic/complex investment options, ignore investor skill/knowledge, just looking at gross returns over 12 months, etc.

So say you then ranked all the main Thai investment options from one to (say) twenty ... what you would find is that the order of this ranking has changed dramatically over the course of the past few years ... and no doubt will continue to change. This is clearly shown in figure 14.1 in the 2011 version of the book "Your Investment Guide to Thailand", which provides a comparison using 2009 data (as per the original version of the Guide) and then using 2010 performance data. Some investment options have literally flipped from one end of the scale to the other.

Edited March 26, 2011 by chiangmaibruce

[clinique]

perhaps yuo need to be more specific about your risk profile. this would help in getting relevant advice.

As Bruce says the risk and performance profiles of different sectors have changed dramaticallyover the past several years andlikely wil do so again.

If you want 'plain vanilla' no or little risk then there are very few options in Thailand that provide any respectable returns.

Perhaps Thailand is not the best place for your money.

Comes back to the risk vs reward equation.

[ChiangMaiFun]

well... I recently sold a property and have approx. 5m or so in cash - I was looking at Bangkok Banks Mutual 'Infrastructure' Fund as I can't see Utilities etc. failing over the Medium Term - I guess I'm a Medium to High Risk investor - splitting my funds 50/50. Aiming for as close to 10% as I can get.

[ExpatJ]

well... I recently sold a property and have approx. 5m or so in cash - I was looking at Bangkok Banks Mutual 'Infrastructure' Fund as I can't see Utilities etc. failing over the Medium Term - I guess I'm a Medium to High Risk investor - splitting my funds 50/50. Aiming for as close to 10% as I can get.

If you are aiming for 10% returns, dont invest in utility companies, these are perhaps the most stable of stocks i.e. they dont tend to increase or decrease much.

My advice- be prepared to trade frequently- weekly or so. Get a list of the top 20 SET growth stock companies then monitor them daily and buy those with RSIs @30-35 and positive buy MACD signals- then be prepared to sell them in 1-3 weeks taking the profit. This is my basic strategy. But be warned the temptation is too hold onto a stock once its increased 7-8% hoping for more returns- in every case where i have done that the stock has dropped down to - XX% within a few weeks and i have ended up having to hold it for months until its price recovers. So make sure you sell when you hit @7-8% return using this technical analysis strategy.

[ChiangMaiFun]

well... I recently sold a property and have approx. 5m or so in cash - I was looking at Bangkok Banks Mutual 'Infrastructure' Fund as I can't see Utilities etc. failing over the Medium Term - I guess I'm a Medium to High Risk investor - splitting my funds 50/50. Aiming for as close to 10% as I can get.

If you are aiming for 10% returns, dont invest in utility companies, these are perhaps the most stable of stocks i.e. they dont tend to increase or decrease much.

My advice- be prepared to trade frequently- weekly or so. Get a list of the top 20 SET growth stock companies then monitor them daily and buy those with RSIs @30-35 and positive buy MACD signals- then be prepared to sell them in 1-3 weeks taking the profit. This is my basic strategy. But be warned the temptation is too hold onto a stock once its increased 7-8% hoping for more returns- in every case where i have done that the stock has dropped down to - XX% within a few weeks and i have ended up having to hold it for months until its price recovers. So make sure you sell when you hit @7-8% return using this technical analysis strategy.

thanks - I am used to trading in Europe but how to go about it here?

[ExpatJ]

well... I recently sold a property and have approx. 5m or so in cash - I was looking at Bangkok Banks Mutual 'Infrastructure' Fund as I can't see Utilities etc. failing over the Medium Term - I guess I'm a Medium to High Risk investor - splitting my funds 50/50. Aiming for as close to 10% as I can get.

If you are aiming for 10% returns, dont invest in utility companies, these are perhaps the most stable of stocks i.e. they dont tend to increase or decrease much.

My advice- be prepared to trade frequently- weekly or so. Get a list of the top 20 SET growth stock companies then monitor them daily and buy those with RSIs @30-35 and positive buy MACD signals- then be prepared to sell them in 1-3 weeks taking the profit. This is my basic strategy. But be warned the temptation is too hold onto a stock once its increased 7-8% hoping for more returns- in every case where i have done that the stock has dropped down to - XX% within a few weeks and i have ended up having to hold it for months until its price recovers. So make sure you sell when you hit @7-8% return using this technical analysis strategy.

thanks - I am used to trading in Europe but how to go about it here?

I use Kim Eng securities, and SCB bank securities plus bloomberg.com for the technical analysis tables.

[clinique]

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

[ExpatJ]

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

Can you provide the details of these accounts, im skeptical..?

In terms of returns on the stock exchange- i'm aiming for 7-8% returns per - on average- monthly trade on the stock exchange...not waiting a whole ye4ar to get 7-8% return...

Edited April 1, 2011 by ExpatJ

[ChiangMaiFun]

well... I recently sold a property and have approx. 5m or so in cash - I was looking at Bangkok Banks Mutual 'Infrastructure' Fund as I can't see Utilities etc. failing over the Medium Term - I guess I'm a Medium to High Risk investor - splitting my funds 50/50. Aiming for as close to 10% as I can get.

If you are aiming for 10% returns, dont invest in utility companies, these are perhaps the most stable of stocks i.e. they dont tend to increase or decrease much.

My advice- be prepared to trade frequently- weekly or so. Get a list of the top 20 SET growth stock companies then monitor them daily and buy those with RSIs @30-35 and positive buy MACD signals- then be prepared to sell them in 1-3 weeks taking the profit. This is my basic strategy. But be warned the temptation is too hold onto a stock once its increased 7-8% hoping for more returns- in every case where i have done that the stock has dropped down to - XX% within a few weeks and i have ended up having to hold it for months until its price recovers. So make sure you sell when you hit @7-8% return using this technical analysis strategy.

thanks - I am used to trading in Europe but how to go about it here?

I use Kim Eng securities, and SCB bank securities plus bloomberg.com for the technical analysis tables.

Thanks very much - Kim Eng looks very professional! I just wish I knew what I was doing! in UK it was fairly easy as I was familiar with the RBS's and Barclay's of this world I'll join up and assume they do offer an advisory service to newcomers to the market.

[FarangBuddha]

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

Care to name any names...HSBC Singapore is currently offering about 4.5% on 12 month AUS dollar accounts. All other currencies range from .5 to 2.5 percent. Didn't see anything even close to 7 to 8 percent. I would assume other banks in Singapore are similar.

Edited April 1, 2011 by FarangBuddha

[Naam]

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

Care to name any names...HSBC Singapore is currently offering about 4.5% on 12 month AUS dollar accounts. All other currencies range from .5 to 2.5 percent. Didn't see anything even close to 7 to 8 percent. I would assume other banks in Singapore are similar.

you are correct that there's nothing like 7-8% but besides AUD there are two currencies which yield ~5-6%, namely TRY and ZAR.

should it be correct that HSBC offers 4.5% on AUD deposits / 12 month maturity then that's a shame because that interest is offered by other SG banks for overnight deposits.

[clinique]

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

Care to name any names...HSBC Singapore is currently offering about 4.5% on 12 month AUS dollar accounts. All other currencies range from .5 to 2.5 percent. Didn't see anything even close to 7 to 8 percent. I would assume other banks in Singapore are similar.

Sure look at this link...fixddeplink

Been with them for years.

[ChiangMaiFun]

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

Care to name any names...HSBC Singapore is currently offering about 4.5% on 12 month AUS dollar accounts. All other currencies range from .5 to 2.5 percent. Didn't see anything even close to 7 to 8 percent. I would assume other banks in Singapore are similar.

Sure look at this link...fixddeplink

Been with them for years.

ICICI is an Indian bank

[clinique]

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

Care to name any names...HSBC Singapore is currently offering about 4.5% on 12 month AUS dollar accounts. All other currencies range from .5 to 2.5 percent. Didn't see anything even close to 7 to 8 percent. I would assume other banks in Singapore are similar.

Sure look at this link...fixddeplink

Been with them for years.

ICICI is an Indian bank

And your point is what ?

It is also listed on NYSE, is highly ranked in Forbes global ranking (higher than some other banks being mentioned), is regulated y MAS...

Never had a problem with them.

[ChiangMaiFun]

you tried to imply it was Singaporean - anyway a couple of years ago ICICI was an 'at risk' bank - maybe not now but it was during the banking crisis

[clinique]

you tried to imply it was Singaporean - anyway a couple of years ago ICICI was an 'at risk' bank - maybe not now but it was during the banking crisis

no, i did not try to imply any such thing,, read my post again ,,, it says .."international banks in Singapore..."

as for at risk,,,, what about all the other 'big' banks that were or are at risk,, or have gone bust...

I am stating my experience and opinion only..and with ICICI Singapore branch,, it is good.

[ChiangMaiFun]

you tried to imply it was Singaporean - anyway a couple of years ago ICICI was an 'at risk' bank - maybe not now but it was during the banking crisis

no, i did not try to imply any such thing,, read my post again ,,, it says .."international banks in Singapore..."

as for at risk,,,, what about all the other 'big' banks that were or are at risk,, or have gone bust...

I am stating my experience and opinion only..and with ICICI Singapore branch,, it is good.

ok thanks for sharing - my original thread was about a slightly different subject but it's always useful to know savings rates but I am more after dealing in mutual funds 'within Thailand'

[clinique]

No problem,, good luck with that.

[chiangmaibruce]

Chiangmaifun. I don't dispute expatj's methodology - it may well work for him/her. But I would say that taking that across to someone "who wishes they knew what they were doing" would almost certainly guarantee a negative outcome - and that's no disrepect to you. Based on what little you have indicated about your personal circumstances then I would say leave the trading alone and do your homework on mutual funds. Google on something like "mutual funds Lipper Thailand awards of excellence" to get started with some ideas .. also google on "thailand association of investment management companies" to see some previous results for the many many different funds on offer.

[ChiangMaiFun]

Chiangmaifun. I don't dispute expatj's methodology - it may well work for him/her. But I would say that taking that across to someone "who wishes they knew what they were doing" would almost certainly guarantee a negative outcome - and that's no disrepect to you. Based on what little you have indicated about your personal circumstances then I would say leave the trading alone and do your homework on mutual funds. Google on something like "mutual funds Lipper Thailand awards of excellence" to get started with some ideas .. also google on "thailand association of investment management companies" to see some previous results for the many many different funds on offer.

thanks - good advice

[Naam]

ChiangMaiFun: ICICI is an Indian bank

clinique: And your point is what ? It is also listed on NYSE, is highly ranked in Forbes global ranking

(higher than some other banks being mentioned), is regulated y MAS...

ChiangMaiFun: you tried to imply it was Singaporean - anyway a couple of years ago ICICI was an 'at risk' bank -

maybe not now but it was during the banking crisis.

Gentlemen... for the record:

-ICICI is not an Indian Bank but an independent Singaporean banking entity (even though it is called a "branch"), belongs 100% to ICICI, India but regulated by the MAS - Monetary Authority of Singapore.

-ICICI, Singapore is not listed at the NYSE but ICICI, India is.

-ICICI, India was not really at risk during the subprime crisis because it's a "systemic" bank and (if i remember correctly) lost the peanuts amount of less than 300 million dollars.

:jap:

[farang000999]

There is no safe investment in this economic climate. Prices are rising for consumer goods. The US government is preparing for another occupation of a country it doesn't understand, which, if the last 20 tries were an example, will turn out to be a total economic and social failure. As countries keep printing, prices will keep rising. At some point, you have to expect that interest rates will need to be raised and when they are, does it mean that we will go back to 2009 stock lows? It's as though all these economists found this miracle button called "Lower Interest Rates - Create Inflation" and they get a real high out of pressing it as many times as they can before the machine malfunctions and explodes.