Major stock markets in Asia traded higher on Friday after a huge plunge in the previous session despite the Fed’s statement of taking first priority to ease inflation.
As of 10:05 local time in Thailand on May 13, 2022, Nikkei jumped 2.61%, SSEC rose 0.19%, Hang Seng Index increased 1.55%, ASX 200 gained 1.31% while IDX Composite dropped 0.61%.
Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,596.93 points, increased 12.41 points or 0.78%.
Yesterday, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that he could not promise a soft landing for the economy in order to get inflation under control. The rate hike could cause pain to the U.S. economy, but easing inflation remains his top priority, according to the statement.
“So a soft landing is, is really just getting back to 2% inflation while keeping the labor market strong. And it’s quite challenging to accomplish that right now, for a couple of reasons,” said Powell in an interview with Marketplace.
The U.S. April inflation rose to 8.3%, higher than 8.1% estimated and also at a 40-year high.
Mr. Kantara Ladawan na Ayutthaya, executive director of Finansia Syrus Securities (FSS), through “Kaohoon Jor Talad Program” on May 13, 2022, expected SET Index to have a technical rebound, following the trend in the Asian market after a month-long pressure in the market as concerns about Fed’s rate hike and war in Ukraine still weigh on the market. Mr. Ladawan recommended investors to hold stocks that have good fundamentals, seeing the Thai economy is about to recover amid border reopening.
The overall earnings outlook in 1Q22 was positive in his view, seeing higher sales revenue despite rising costs, which is a good trend going into 2Q-2H22.
Even though the market has priced in future rate hike by the Fed, Mr. Ladawan expected equity markets to eventually edge lower before the announcement date.
In addition, Mr. Ladawan recommended hospital stocks, seeing upside from revenue from Covid-related and the reopening. He added that as Covid-19 in Thailand is turning into an endemic, patients still need to check in at the hospital if contract one, which could give constant revenue to the hospital.
