Major stock markets in Asia traded mostly higher on Thursday as investors continued to monitor the situation in Ukraine while oil prices dropped from 7-year high.
As of 10:17 local time in Thailand on February 17, 2022, Nikkei slipped 0.24%, SSEC rose 0.27%, Hang Seng Index increased 0.32%, ASX 200 advanced 0.55%, while IDX Composite dipped 0.35%.
Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,709.35 points, increased 7.90 points or 0.46%.
Oil prices slipped on Wednesday and continued to slide on Thursday in the early session of Asian markets as part of the profit taking from traders after the price recently hit a 7-year high. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance had not seen any de-escalation and that Russia was continuing its military build-up.
Brent crude fell 1.95% to $92.96 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate dropped 2.14% to $91.66 per barrel.
Asia Wealth Securities (AWS) expected SET Index to remain volatile, moving in a frame of 1,685-1,715 points. Despite the expectation that the emerging markets monetary policy is still accommodative compared to developed markets such as the U.S. and Europe, the latest Fed report has not signaled a serious interest rate hike (weighing March interest rate at 0.25%), Hawkish is less than what AWS and market consensus expected.
In addition, the earnings yield gap narrowed due to the acceleration in the U.S. treasury yields that will be more a limiting factor for upside of the market. AWS viewed that the issue will not be reached as a factor to accelerate fund outflow, but focused on selective big cap stocks. AWS picked AOT, MINT, PTT, BDMS, CRC, CPN, CPALL and KCE as top picks.
