1) Thai stock market overview
Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,573.07 points, decreased 26.58 points or 1.66% with a trading value of 79 billion baht. The analyst stated that the declining market was in the same direction as global markets, following the closure of SVB that pressured Thai banks. Meanwhile, investors were also waiting for the US inflation data tomorrow.
The analyst expected the Thai stock market to bounce back tomorrow after recording losses in recent days, saying that the Thai stock market has strong fundamentals.
2) Thai central bank expects limited impact from SVB failure
BOT assistant governor Suwannee Jatsadasak said the central bank did not anticipate any major effects on Thailand’s financial stability due to the lack of direct transactions between Thai banks and Silicon Valley Bank. Furthermore, Thai commercial banks spend less than 1% of their total capital in global Fintech and startups, and they do not hold any digital assets.
The baht is gaining in accordance with regional currencies, and the baht is anticipated to remain volatile due to uncertainties regarding U.S. monetary policy, according to a statement from the Bank of Thailand.
3) Goldman Sachs no longer sees Fed hiking rates in March after SVB collapse
Economist Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs stated on Sunday that the bank is no longer anticipating a rate hike from the Federal Reserve at next week’s March Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
Goldman Sachs wrote in a note that due to “recent stress in the banking system,” they do not anticipate a rate hike from the FOMC at their meeting on March 22.
In spite of this, Goldman Sachs maintains its terminal rate projection of 5.25% to 5.5% and predicts 25 basis point hikes in May, June, and July, but said it saw considerable uncertainty about the rate hike path beyond March.
Goldman previously expected a 25-basis-point hike in March.
4) HSBC steps in to acquire Silicon Valley Bank’s UK division
The government and the Bank of England approved the private sale of Silicon Valley Bank UK to HSBC this morning. According to British finance minister Jeremy Hunt, the government and the Bank of England enabled the private sale of Silicon Valley Bank’s UK branch to HSBC in order to safeguard deposits without using public funds.
“Silicon Valley Bank (UK) Ltd. has today been sold to HSBC…Customer of SVB UK will be able to access their depostis and banking services as normal from today,” announced by the British government, BOE and Treasury.
The Bank of England stated that the wider UK banking system was safe, sound, and well capitalized.
