SET rebounds on news of antiviral drug that tackles Covid-19

A stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index to rebound at the resistance level between 1,230 and 1,240 as regional stocks rose sharply by 2 to 3 per cent.
“The market has responded to the news report that Remdesivir, an antiviral drug, could be used to treat Covid-19 patients until they have fully recovered,” the stock analyst said.
“This supports US President Donald Trump’s guidelines for reopening some states before the deadline on May 1, resulting in positive sentiment for economic activities.”
The analyst also expected that many governments in Europe would ease their lockdown measures as the daily death toll from the Covid-19 virus in Spain and Italy had dropped.
“However, investors should beware of mass sell-offs as the index would be under pressure from uncertainty following the decline in the performance of companies when financial statements for the first quarter of this year are released,” the stock analyst added.
“We advise monitoring ICT stocks as the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission is prepared to conclude discussions with mobile phone operators on reducing customers' fees by 10-30 per cent to alleviate people’s burden during the Covid-19 situation.”
The analyst recommended that investors make selective buys from three groups of stocks:
● Retail, tourism and hotel stocks that benefit from a decline in the number of Covid-19 patients in Thailand and Remdesivir antiviral drug, such as CRC, HMPRO, GLOBAL, COM7, AOT, CENTEL, MINT and ERW.
● Stocks that would benefit from the decline in oil cost, such as TASCO, EPG, and IVL.
● ICT and food stocks that have escaped the severe impact from the outbreak, such as ADVANC, INTUCH, DTAC and CPF.