Major stock markets in Asia traded higher as investors monitor the situation between Russia and Ukraine closely after more sanctions are imposed on Russia from other nations.
As of 10:39 local time in Thailand on February 23, 2022, SSEC rose 0.52%, Hang Seng Index gained 0.51%, ASX 200 increased 0.22% and IDX Composite advanced 0.35%. The markets in Japan are closed today.
Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,696.66 points, increased 5.54 points or 0.33%.
Asia Wealth Securities (AWS) expected the SET this week (21-25 Feb 2022) to move within a frame of 1,680-1,705 points. Today, the SET is expected to have a strong buy-back in a technical rebound after yesterday’s negative market response on the uncertainty situation in Ukraine, especially signals in the commodity market in the end of the market that the price of crude oil fell in the positive range and the price of gold dropped in the end of the market. However, AWS stated that it looks at the uncertainty situation in the case of Ukraine which will also cause the price of crude oil to fluctuate.
AWS estimated that the oil play stocks will benefit but not that much. The high crude oil price base will come back to pressure the economic recovery and will affect the demand for crude oil in the future, but there are the stocks in the group affected by the increase in crude oil prices such as (1) the group that is directly affected is the power plant group (with a high proportion of SPP revenue) and the aviation business group and (2) the group that is indirectly affected from higher inflation affects the cost of raw materials and product prices such as real estate, construction, automotive, industrial estates, restaurants, agriculture, and electronic components. The issue to be covered for this week is on the 25 Feb that is PCE and Core PCE Price Index, which is the inflation index the Fed gives weight in determining the direction of monetary policy. The issue to be followed is including the Eurozone’s January inflation report (23 Feb).
