1) FSS says market lacks catalysts, expecting SET Index to move between 1,675-1,690 points
Finansia Syrus Securities (FSS) expected Thailand’s SET Index to move within the range of 1,675-1,690 points, lacking catalysts to boost the market. Wall Street started to show signs of slowing down after closing higher in the previous two sessions. 4Q22 earnings of listed corporate were mixed. Meanwhile, the market was weighing recession risks as US and Eurozone PMI data for January began to pick up, but will need to keep an eye for the next couple of months.
FSS expected the Bank of Thailand to raise interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.50% in today’s meeting.
2) Microsoft expects tech slowdown to hurt earnings
Microsoft executives expected the continuation of the weak business environment that began in December to hurt its fiscal second quarter results.
Microsoft’s chief financial officer Amy Hood said that the company saw less growth than expected in Microsoft 365 productivity software subscriptions, identity and security services, and business-oriented Windows products.
More importantly, growth in Microsoft’s cloud computing service Azure also slowed down as well. Hood said that he expected Azure growth to slow down more.
3) Australia inflation hit 32-year high of 7.8%
Australian inflation hit a new 32-year high of 7.8% in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2022, the fastest annual rate of increase since March 1990.
The Reserve Bank of Australia predicted that the consumer price index would increase by 8% for the quarter, although economists polled by Reuters predicted a lesser increase of 7.5%. The price of products increased by 9.5%, which is somewhat less than the 9.6% rise seen in the previous quarter, while the price of services increased by 5.5%, the biggest increase since 2008.
