Major stock markets in Asia traded higher on Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced a 0.25 percentage point rate hike last night without any surprise moves, which was in line with the market expectations.
As of 10:09 local time in Thailand, Nikkei rose 2.98%, SSEC increased 1.90%, Hang Seng Index soared 5.01%, ASX 200 gained 1.41% and IDX Composite hiked 0.075%.
Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,680.58 points, increased 12.66 points or 0.76%.
Mr. Koraphat Vorachet, Capital Nomura Securities’ strategist, through “Kaohoon Jor Talad Program” on March 17, 2022, stated that the Fed’s rate hike was in line with estimates and there will be more hike coming throughout this year to tackle inflation rate that rose to a record high in four decades.
The strategist stated that Fed’s chair Jerome Powell affirmed that the U.S. has a strong economy and is still far from recession, which could be a positive sentiment to support the Thai stock market, giving a support level at 1,660 points and a resistance level at 1,680-1,689 points.
Mr. Varachet expected JMT and TIDLOR to edge higher in today’s session due to strong fundamental and positive earnings momentum, meanwhile, hospital stocks could move in sideways trends due to its outperformance recently and investors could switch to speculate on electronics parts and laggard stocks instead.
