The stock market reacted negatively to the Financial Times’ report of Moderna’s CEO predicted that existing vaccines will be much less effective against omicron than earlier strains and warned that it would take months before drugmakers can manufacture new variant-specific vaccines at scale.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.69%, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.67%, Mainland China’s CSI300 decreased 0.74% and South Korea’s KOSPI plunged sharply by 2.51%.
Meanwhile, Dow Jones Futures extended the loss to 450 points or 1.28%, S&P 500 Futures fell 0.98% and Nasdaq Futures slipped 0.47%.
Mr. Chaiyot Jiwangkul, Assistant Director of Krungsri Securities (KSS), told “Kaohoon Online” that the Thai stock market this afternoon should move in the same direction as regional markets as Japan’s Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Dow Jones Futures dropped sharply and added that the overall outlook remains negative.
As for the support level, Mr. Jiwangkul gave the first level at 1,585 points and the next level should be 1,580 points. Amidst this uncertainty, he expected hospital and medical supply stocks to benefit.
Mr. Koraphat Vorachet, Capital Nomura Securities’ strategist, told “Kaohoon Online” that the statement from Moderna’s CEO was according to CNS’ estimation, but will need to wait for the World Health Organization in the next two weeks to monitor and give a proper report of vaccine efficacy. The strategist recommended ADVANC, TRUE, GULF, KCE, TIDLOR, KBANK and HANA, expecting SET Index to fluctuate with a support level at 1,572-1,565 points and a resistance level at 1,600-1,610 points. He advised investors to accumulate on weakness.
