1) Thai stock market overview
Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,681.22 points, a drop by less than 0.01% on Monday with a trading value of 54 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market move in sideways trend without positive drivers as investors were waiting for the upcoming Fed’s meeting on February 1st.
The analyst expected a 25bps rate hike by the Fed, which would be a positive catalyst to the market, while recommending investors to monitor Jerome Powell’s statement for any signal of slowing down the rate cycle.
2) China’s top e-commerce platform ending service in Thailand
JD Central announced that the company will discontinue its operations in Thailand, effective on 3 March 2023.
The reason for ending the service, the company declared that the action was in accordance with the JD.com’s policy, that will continue to focus on expanding and developing business in the international market, distributing the goods by creating the supply chain network crossing borders and transportation.
3) China to resume issuing visas for Japanese
The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo made the decision to resume issuing visas to Japanese citizens, marking the end of a countermeasure taken by the Beijing government in response to Japan’s decision to mandate Covid testing for visitors coming from China.
A brief web notification provided by the embassy stated, “Starting today (Jan. 29), the Embassy and the Offices of Consulates-General of the People’s Republic of China will resume issuing ordinary visas for Japanese citizens.”
4) Baidu to launch Chatbot like ChatGPT
Baidu, Inc. plans to announce in March, about the artificial intelligence chatbot that looks similar to ChatGPT of OpenAI. Baidu has been investing heavily on AI development. Last month, it unveiled three AI-powered creators that would allow them to perform the roles of screenwriter, illustrator, editor or animator.
