Thailand to see a return of capital inflows as the central bank is set to raise interest rates by 0.25% at its meeting today. Analysts advise investors to focus on big-cap stocks in the banking, retail, and energy sectors.
According to Asia Plus Securities, the Thai market is expected to see a return of foreign fund inflows if the Bank of Thailand agrees to raise interest rates by 0.25% to 0.75% (the first hike in four years) at the MPC meeting today (August 10). And that SET Index is expected around 1,630-1,640 points.
Foreign fund inflows showed an uptick outlook since the beginning of August, with net foreign inflows of THB11,799 million MTD (August 9) and THB129,150 million YTD.
Despite interest rate hikes seem to have a negative sentiment on stock markets, Asia Plus believes that several equities, particularly bank plays (KBANK, BBL, SCB, KTB) and insurance plays (BLA) and stocks benefiting from fund inflow (PTT, PTTEP, IVL, SCC, CPALL, CRC, ADVANC) should remain strong and outperform the SET.
