Hopes for Covid-19 vaccine, US Fed move spur SET to rise over 1,300 points

A Krungsri Securities stock analyst expected the index to rise to between 1,300 and 1,310 points after regional indices increased due to news reports about the progress of a Covid-19 vaccine.
“Moderna, the Massachusetts biotechnology company, announced after a human safety test result that the vaccine triggered blood levels of virus-fighting antibodies,” the analyst said.
He said 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 crude oil price.
“The price of crude oil rose over US$32 [Bt1,023.70] per barrel as the demand for oil is expected to recover after several countries eased their lockdown measures and Saudi Arabia planned to cut oil production by 1 million barrels per day by June this year,” he said.
“However, we advised investors to beware of mass sell-offs in stocks as the index’s price-to-earnings ratio was around 17 times, the highest among emerging countries.”
The analyst recommended investors buy these stocks:
● Energy stocks, such as PTT, PTTEP, TOP, PTTGC and SPRC, due to a rise in the price of crude oil.
● Retail stocks, such as CRC, CPN, HMPro, Global, Com7, and DoHome, due to the second phase of lockdown easing.
● Stocks whose second quarter performance would increase, such as CKP, Tasco and EPG.