SET gets a lift from hopes of a new drug to tackle Covid-19

A stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index to fluctuate between 1,270 and 1,300.
He said that the market gained support from hopes of a US economic recovery after Gilead Sciences revealed that the drug Remdesivir can treat Covid-19 patients effectively.
“In addition, the Federal Reserve announced it would maintain interest at 0.00 to 0.25 per cent, emphasising that they will use all financial tools to help the economy recover as soon as possible,” the stock analyst said. “Moreover, the price of crude oil rebounded after the US oil storage increased slightly.”
He said that investors would sell retail, tourism and hotel stocks after Prime Minister Prayut-Chan-o-cha extended the State of Emergency by another month, as a result provincial governors are unable to ease their lockdown measures.
“The mass sell-off to reduce risks before long holidays would plunge the index,” the stock analyst said.
He said the SET Index on Wednesday closed at 1,282, up 7.69 points, or 0.60 per cent, with transactions amounting to Bt49 billion.
“Foreign investors made net sales of Bt453 million in stocks and Bt3.315 billion in the bond market, while there were 2,362 net short TFEX SET50 contracts,” the analyst said.
He suggested that investors make selective buys from these four groups of stocks:
● ICT and food stocks that have escaped the severe impact of the outbreak, such as ADVANC, INTUCH, DTAC and CPF.
● Financial stocks that would benefit from the Accounting Profession Supervision Committee easing Thai Financial Reporting Standards 9 and low-interest soft loans, such as KTC, SAWAD, MTC, JMT and BAM.
● Stocks whose first quarter performance are expected to improve, such as CPF, IVL, BCPG, GPSC and RS.
● Stocks that would be added to Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) calculation, such as KTC, AWC and TOA.