SET bounces high on back of Russia Covid-19 vaccine news
Positive news about Russia finding a Covid-19 vaccine has pushed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index up by about 31 points to 1,353.53 points, the highest in three weeks, experts said.
An analyst at Asia Plus Securities said global stock indices are also expected to rise in the short term in response to this vaccine news.
“Judging by Covid-19 vaccine development news from other countries, we expect a vaccine to be produced in the beginning of 2021. If this happens, then the Thai share market will definitely benefit from this positive sentiment.”
Sunthorn Thongthip, a senior director at Kasikorn Securities, said stocks that benefited from positive news about the Covid-19 vaccine were in the tourism, energy, banking, finance and automotive, theatre and retail sectors.
“Previously, these stocks had dropped sharply, so we advise investors to hold them for sale next year,” he said.
Sunthorn added that stocks that have benefited from the Covid-19 outbreak that can be sold for profit once the vaccine is ready can be divided into two groups – stocks that have good short-term fundamentals such as Sri Trang Gloves Thailand (STGT), and stocks that are benefiting from the low price of oil such as PTG Energy (PTG) and Tipco Asphalt (TASCO).
“Investors also have the chance to purchase stocks with good fundamentals in the long term that can be sold for profit after the vaccine is found are JMT Network Services [JMT], Bangkok Commercial Asset Management [BAM] and Carabao Group [CBG],” he added.
Padon Vannarat, assistant managing director at Yuanta Securities (Thailand), said tourism, hotel, aviation, department stores, mass transit system, entertainment venues and spas will benefit directly once a vaccine is found, while banks will benefit indirectly as the vaccine will help alleviate concerns about non-performing loans.
“We advise investors to purchase stocks of Minor International [MINT] and Central Retail Corporation [CRC],” he said, adding that from the beginning of the year, the SET Index has contracted 15.38 points.
“Stocks with the highest contraction were those of commercial banks [-38 per cent], followed by media [-25 per cent], real estate [-24 per cent], transportation [-23 per cent] and the Real Estate Investment Trust [-22 per cent],” he explained.
“The only stocks that rose sharply by more than 50 per cent were those of electronics and agricultural products.”
