Finansia Syrus Securities (FSS) expected Thailand’s SET Index to continue edging higher on Thursday with a resistance level at 1,460 points. However, the market could see a smaller gain due to lower oil prices that pressured the energy sector.
The analyst recommended investors to monitor US inflation data for September, scheduled to come out later today. The street estimated US core CPI to increase 0.3% MoM and 4.1% YoY.
The Fed’s minutes released yesterday showed that officials had different opinions on whether the central bank should pause or make the final rate hike.
However, CME FedWatch Tool showed that Wall Street believed that the Federal Reserve will maintain its policy rate at its Oct. 31-Nov. 1 policy meeting despite producer prices that rose more than expected in September due to a rise in costs for energy products and food from increasing crude oil prices.
The US producer price index rose 0.5% in September after accelerating by 0.7% in August. The reading last month was higher than what economists from the Reuters poll had expected for a gain of 0.3%. In the 12 months through September, the PPI increased 2.2% after increasing 2.0% in August.
Meanwhile, the core PPI, which excludes food, energy and trade services components, rose 0.2% after increasing by the same figure in August.
Crude oil prices dropped on Thursday, following the previous session that saw a more than 2% decline due to the report that Iran may not be involved in the attack in Israel. If that is the case, concerns over disruption of more than 3 million barrels of oil product per day will dissipate.
Brent crude fell $1.83 or 2.1% in the previous session to settle at $85.82 a barrel. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped $2.48 or 2.9% to close at $83.49 a barrel.
