1) Thai stock market overview
Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,657.69 points, increased 6.02 points or 0.36% with a trading value of 53 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market moved in the same direction as Asian markets, buoyed by banking sector and the buy back in JMART group. However, the market still lacked new catalysts.
2) Goldman Sachs expects 24% surge in Chinese stocks by 2023
Goldman Sachs strategists said that the MSCI China index could increase by 24% as the country moved from the reopening that followed its harsh zero-Covid rules into a growth period.
The American investment bank predicted that the recovery of the Chinese stock market would replace the reopening as the primary theme, and that earnings growth and delivery would replace multiple expansion as the driver of prospective gains.
A bull market for Chinese stocks began around the Lunar New Year this year, with the MSCI China index reaching its peak at the end of January, up about 60% from the all-time low in October.
Expectations are growing that China’s administration will reveal more pro-growth policies during the National People’s Congress in March. Beijing defined an aggressive growth target and laid the groundwork for greater fiscal stimulus at last year’s summit, which is widely seen as a watershed event for the country’s economic policies.
3) Malaysia’s Exports Grow 1.6%, Lower than Expected
Malaysia’s exports increased by 1.6% in January, compared with last year. It was lower than expected, according to the government’s data on Monday.
In January, the exports were forecast to grow 7.4%, according to economists in Reuters’ survey.
The imports in January rose 2.3% from last year, citing data from the International Trade and Industry Ministry. Analysts expected an annual increase of 10.1%.
Malaysia had a trade surplus of 18.16 billion ringgit in January, down from the revised surplus of 28.14 billion ringgit the previous month.
4) Vietnam’s shoe maker for Nike and Adidas to lay off 6,000 workers as orders slump
According to a document acquired by AFP from the Ho Chi Minh City labor department on Monday, PouYuen Vietnam, a unit of Taiwan’s Pou Chen Group, will lay off 3,000 workers and will not renew the contracts of 3,000 others due to “very few production orders in 2023.”
With around 50,000 people, PouYuen is the commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City’s major employer.
The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor reports that in the fourth quarter of 2022, orders from the United States dropped by 30–40% and those from Europe dropped by 60% compared to the same period the previous year.
