SET rises, but further decline possible as Covid-19 rocks world economy
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index on Wednesday (March 18) morning rose by 26.32 points, or 2.54 per cent, to 1,061.49.
A stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index would fluctuate between 1,020 and 1,050.
“The market has gained positive sentiment after the US launched a big set of economic stimulus measures worth US$850 billion, while the US Federal Reserve will buy back bonds to increase liquidity in the monetary system and deal with the Covid-19 impact,” the stock analyst said.
“However, we expect the index would fall again due to uncertainty following the global economic recession from the impact of Covid-19, which has led to an increasing number of infections and deaths.”
The analyst said that currently, the European Union had announced a lockdown for 30 days to control the outbreak.
“Meanwhile, the price of crude oil fell over 2 per cent due to uncertainty following the decline in oil demand, which would be a negative sentiment for energy and petroleum stocks,” the stock analyst said.
The analyst recommended three groups of stocks for investors:
● Defensive stocks which pay high dividends, such as ADVANC, INTUCH, and TTW.
● Retail stocks, which gained buying power after the government returned total electricity metre insurance of Bt30 billion, such as CPALL, HMPRO, and BJC.
● Financial stocks, which gained from interest rate cut trends, such as MTC, SAWAD, and KTC.
