Major stock markets in Asia traded lower on Tuesday as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated over the night after Russia announced that it recognized the independence of two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine and ordered the troops to advance into the two regions to “keep the peace”.
As of 10:16 local time in Thailand on February 22, 2022, Nikkei fell 2.17%, SSEC dropped 1.06%, Hang Seng Index decreased 3.12%, ASX 200 slipped 1.40% and IDX Composite dipped 0.55%.
Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,682.57 points, decreased 11.75 points or 0.69%.
Asia Wealth Securities (AWS) expected the SET to decline in a frame of 1,675-1,705 points from two major events which are (1) the tensions between Russia and Ukraine that pressure on investment overview and (2) the latest COVID-19 situation in the country that the Ministry of Public Health announced to raise the level of COVID-19 alert to level 4 nationwide (avoid going to risky place and traveling) causing stocks in the hospital group and medical devices interesting such as CHG, BCH, TM, SMD and WINMED.
However, the positive factor from the overall economy is that the NESDC still has a positive view as it believes that Thailand’s GDP in 2022 will grow 3.5% to 4.5% as previously estimated. This is mainly from increased purchasing power in the country and the expansion of private investment that still keeps the domestic play stocks attractive. The issues to be covered this week are the PCE, the U.S. core PCE price index on 25, which is the inflation index the Fed gives weight in determining the direction of monetary policy, and the Eurozone’s Jan inflation report (23 Feb).
