The president of Thailand's Stock Exchange said Thursday that the country's pipeline for new public listings is under significant strain, offering a candid assessment of conditions that have made it harder for companies to go public.
Asadej Kongsiri, speaking with Bloomberg's Haslinda Amin on Bloomberg Insight, described the IPO situation as facing "a difficult situation," without specifying which sectors or companies were most affected. His remarks reflect broader pressures that have slowed new listings across emerging markets as global uncertainty — including elevated oil prices and the ongoing Iran conflict — keeps investor appetite cautious.
To broaden the exchange's appeal, Kongsiri said the SET plans to introduce "mini-gold" futures contracts, a move aimed at making gold-linked instruments accessible to a wider range of retail investors. Gold has attracted strong interest globally as a safe-haven asset during the current period of geopolitical instability, and a smaller-denomination futures product could draw in participants who find standard gold contracts too large or costly to trade.
Thailand's exchange has been working to modernize its product offerings and deepen liquidity as regional competition from exchanges in Singapore, Hong Kong, and elsewhere intensifies. The mini-gold futures plan suggests the SET is looking to capture retail demand that might otherwise flow to less-regulated trading platforms or foreign markets.
No timeline was given for when the mini-gold product would launch or what contract specifications it would carry.
