1) Thai stock market roundup
Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,612.64 points, decreased 7.34 points or 0.4% with a trading value of 67 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market closed lower in response to exports data that came out at -4.5%, which was lower than -1.4% expected by the market, reaffirming that the trade deficit should accelerate.
The analyst expected the Thai stock market to rebound after a series of decline following negative economic data and pressure from Fed’s potential rate hikes.
The analyst recommended investors to monitor the U.S jobless claim later tonight as the market expected 190,000 claims.
2) Thai exports contract more than expected in January
Thailand’s exports contracted more than expected in January, said the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday, squeezed by weak demand across the globe and lower consumer spending as a result of rising inflation.
Exports fell 4.5% in January, the fourth consecutive month of contraction, compared to a 1.4% year-on-year drop predicted in a Reuters poll. However, the decline was smaller than the 14.6% drop in December.
The overall export value was US$20,249 million (equal to THB700,127 million), according to the Commerce Ministry.
Agriculture (-2.2%), agro-industry (-3.3%), and manufacturing (including electronics) (-5.4%) all contributed to a lower-than-expected export record. Sinit Lertkrai, deputy minister of commerce, told reporters that while overall exports were down, auto exports were up, as well as rice exports.
Following a 5.5% increase in 2022, the Ministry of Commerce has revised its export growth forecast for this year to 1% – 2%. But the Bank of Thailand warned last week that exports would fall this year.
3) Surge in clean energy offsets carbon emission in 2022
Global participation of private and public sectors to tackle global warming bore fruit as energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide rose lower than anticipated in 2022, according to the data released by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Emissions from energy rose by less than 1% last year to a new high of over 36.8 billion tons globally with the help from renewable projects that limit the impact of a global rise in coal and oil consumption after the disruption of the energy sector by the Russia and Ukraine war.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol noted that the impacts of the energy crisis didn’t result in the major increase in global emissions that was initially feared, which is thanks to the outstanding growth of renewables, EVs, heat pumps and energy efficient technologies.
The figure made a sharp decline from a rise of 6% in 2021. Meanwhile, electronic vehicles continued to gain momentum, as over 10 million cars were sold last year globally, which was 14% higher than anticipated.
