The brokerage firm forecast that the Stock Exchange of Thailand index would hover around 715-740 at the end of the year. The company is also preparing to aggressively penetrate into the derivatives market, and expects to maintain a 7-per-cent market share.

Yarnsak Manomaiphiboon, managing director of Bualuang Securities, said the company expected its investment banking business to generate Bt100 million in revenue this year, much of that from handling two initial public offerings and several merger and acquisition deals.

As a financial adviser, the company asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to launch a Bt4.5-billion property fund, in which Future Park Rangsit will be an underlying asset.

The company expects to launch the fund next month.

"For the rest of the year, the political tension will affect investment. Investments by foreign investors should slow down because they are not confident about the country's political stability," said Yarnsak. "Because inflation is likely to improve, we should see lower interest rates next year.

"The Thai economy has been affected by spikes in oil prices. People consume less energy and energy prices eventually go back down. Large market cap energy stocks will not be as attractive as in the past. At the end of the year, the index should be around 715-740," he said.

Manu Tangtatswas, senior vice president of Bualuang Securities' derivatives unit, said the company planned to double its derivatives trading accounts by the end of this year from 200 at the moment to 400.

"BLS [Bualuang Securities] currently has about an 8-per-cent market share [of the derivatives-trading market], which is above our target of 7 per cent. We plan not only to maintain this position, but also to continuously increase our market share. We are looking at over-the-counter derivatives trading at the moment, which we expect to start operating in the fourth quarter of this year," said Manu.

He said retail investors are responsible for about half of Bualuang Securities' transactions. Institutional investors make up about 40 per cent and foreign investors about 10 per cent.

He also predicted that Internet trading would help increase liquidity in the market. He added that having four securities firms licensed by the SEC to act as market makers would also boost liquidity.

The company plans to offer options based on the SET50 index in April.

Bualuang Securities reported a first-half net profit of Bt102.85 million, up

from Bt57.35 million in the same period a year ago.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation