1) Thai stock market overview
Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,678.51 points, decreased 3.25 points or 0.19% with a trading value of 98 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market moved narrowly in both positive and negative territories in response to rising oil prices after IEA warned of tight oil supply due to sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, Thailand eased Covid restriction for tourist arrivals, but the FTSE rebalance that cut weighing on Thai stocks pressured the market, resulting in a selloff in big-cap stocks.
The analyst expected Thai stock market next week to continue moving narrowly, giving a support level at 1,660 points and a resistance level at 1,700 points.
2) Thailand stops pre-arrival Covid test for fully vaccinated tourists
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) approved on Friday allowing fully vaccinated foreign tourists to enter Thailand without providing proof of a negative COVID-19 test (RT-PCR) taken up to 72 hours prior to arrival. The new regulations take effect on April 1, 2022.
In addition to this, the CCSA is considering cutting visitors’ health insurance coverage; the health office aims to reduce the insurance cap from USD50,000 to USD10,000 to stimulate tourism in Thailand.
3) Wall Street traders brace for more jitters on Triple witching hour
In a quarterly event known as triple witching, roughly $3.5 trillion of single-stock and index-level options are set to expire, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. At the same time, more near-the-money options are maturing than at any time since 2019 — suggesting a bevy of investors will actively trade around those positions.
Triple witching hour is the last hour of the stock market trading session on the third Friday of every March, June, September, and December. Those days are the expiration of three kinds of securities: Stock market index futures; Stock market index options; Stock options.
4) BOJ maintains rate at -0.1%
The Bank of Japan remained dovish and will remain an outlier on tightening monetary policy. The central bank of Japan maintained its short-term rate target at -0.1% and that for the 10-year bond yield around 0% at the two-day policy meeting that ended on Friday.
“There is very high uncertainty on the impact developments in Ukraine could have on Japan’s economy and prices via markets, raw material prices and overseas economies,” said BOJ in the statement.
