Major stock markets in Asia traded higher on Thursday, following the Fed’s statement over the night that the U.S. central bank will increase interest rate later this month as it sees appropriate.
As of 10:17 local time in Thailand, Nikkei rose 0.82%, SSEC gained 0.12%, Hang Seng Index increased 0.54%, ASX 200 advanced 0.82% while IDX Composite fell 0.77%.
Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,702.58 points, increased 12.77 points or 0.76%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell said that the central bank expects to raise interest rates later this month to ease the hot inflation amid a tight labor market, while the invasion of Russia in Ukraine has added uncertainty to the U.S. outlook.
Powell noted that the labor market is extremely tight, which was seen by economists as a signal to lawmakers that the central bank has reached its maximum employment goal in current conditions, which opens the door to its inflation fight.
In addition, Powell did not give a hint of timing on balance-sheet reduction.
Mr. Koraphat Vorachet, Capital Nomura Securities’ strategist, through “Kaohoon Jor Talad Program” on March 3, 2022, expected the market to have positive reaction after the Fed’s statement and the announcement from FTSE in delisting Russia from its Russell Index at the amount of $3.6 billion, which could be a positive sentiment to the Thai stock market in receiving inflow from the portfolio adjustment within the emerging market. Meanwhile, MSCI also announced earlier that it will exclude Russia securities from its weighing.
In addition, Mr. Vorachet recommended growth stocks in JMART Group with JMT should be included in the SET50 in 2H22 while JMART might be able to be included as well.
