Major stock markets in Asia traded lower on Monday, following the negative sentiment from the U.S. stock market last Friday as investors slow down prior to the upcoming holiday. Meanwhile, China announced a rate hike for the lending rate earlier this morning.
On December 20, 2021, Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,631.38 points, decreased 10.35 points or 0.63%.
As of 10:11 local time in Thailand, Nikkei fell 1.72%, SSEC slipped 0.77%, Hang Seng Index decreased 1.18%, ASX 200 dipped 0.27% and IDX Composite dropped 0.60%.
Last Friday, Dow Jones fell 1.48%, S&P 500 declined 1.03% and Nasdaq slipped 0.07%.
Mr. Ekpawin Suntarapichard, investment strategist of the Siam Commercial Bank Securities (SCBS), through “Kaohoon Jor Talad Program” on December 20, 2021, stated that the Thai stock market is trading between 1,660-1,600 points and warned investors of a slowdown as the current index is close to the resistance level.
Meanwhile, the anticipation of Fed’s three rate hikes next year and the earlier hike from the Bank of England might cause the stock market to slow down as well, coupled with lower fund flow from foreign investors as holiday is drawing near.
In addition, the strategist recommended HMPRO and CRC, expecting to benefit from the government’s upcoming stimulus. Meanwhile, EV stocks are on an uptrend as of late, the strategist recommended AH instead of EA due to the high valuation of the matter. Moreover, industrial stocks such as AMATA and WHA could also benefit from the EV trends if producers decide to manufacture cars domestically.
Power plant that has a battery business such as GPSC is also among the recommendations of Mr. Suntarapichard.