SET rises nearly 2% over news of possible Covid-19 vaccine

Total transactions amounted to Bt78.863 billion with an index high of 1,318.01 and a low of 1,304.49.
A stock analyst from Krungsri Securities said he expects the index to rise between 1,300 and 1,310 points now that regional indices have rebounded over news about progress being made in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
“Moderna, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, announced that a human safety test revealed that the vaccine triggered virus-fighting antibodies,” the analyst said.
He added that the index also gained positive sentiment from the US Federal Reserve’s move to inject money into the market to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and the rising price of crude oil.
“The price of crude oil rose over US$32 [Bt1,023.70] per barrel as demand for oil is expected to recover once several countries ease their lockdown measures and Saudi Arabia cuts oil production by 1 million barrels per day by June this year,” he said.
“However, we advise investors to beware of mass sell-offs as the index’s price-to-earnings ratio was around 17 times, the highest among emerging countries.”
The top 10 stocks with the highest trade values today were MINT, PTT, CPALL, BAM, KBANK, PTTEP, BBL, GPSC, PTTGC, and BDMS.
As of 4.30pm, crude oil price rose by $0.43 or 1.35 per cent to $32.25 per barrel, while gold rose by $3.80 or 0.22 per cent to $1,738.20 per ounce.
Though US and European indices were on the slide, Asian indices were on the rise:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 20,433.45, up 299.72 points, or 1.49 per cent.
China’s Shanghai SE Composite Index closed at 2,898.58, up 23.16 points, or 0.81 per cent, while Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 11,052.85, up 131.70 points, or 1.21 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 24,388.13, up 453.36 points, or 1.89 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 1,980.61, up 43.50 points, or 2.25 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 10,860.44, up 119.89 points, or 1.12 per cent.