THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

SET drops amid rising Covid-19 cases and slumping oil price

SET drops amid rising Covid-19 cases and slumping oil price

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index dropped by 11.78 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 1,087.98 in the morning session on Monday (March 30).

A stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected that the index would drop between 1,050 and 1,075 due to uncertainty over the rising number of Covid-19 cases worldwide and falling crude oil price.
“Although governments have issued measures to relieve the impact of the novel coronavirus, the number of Covid-19 cases is still rising continuously, especially in the US and Italy where the number rose well above China to 142,070 and 97,689 people respectively,” the stock analyst said.
“Currently, China has 81,470 Covid-19 cases, followed by Spain at 80,110 and Germany at 62,435. These statistics indicate that the pandemic is not under control yet, causing many countries to use social distancing measure. In addition, it plunged the global economic activities as well.
“Moreover, the crude oil price fell due to uncertainty following the decline in oil demand, which would pressure energy stocks, while the volatility due to change in TFEX Series from H20 to M20 would pressure the index to fall.”
The analyst recommended investors to make a selective buy from three groups of stocks:
● ICT stocks which benefit from work from home trends, such as ADVANC, INTUCH, and DTAC. 
● Retail stocks, which benefit from people hoarding products during the Covid-19 situation, such as CPALL and BJC. 
● Food stocks, which would benefit from the weakening baht, such as CPF and TU.

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