Thailand’s SET Index opened flat at 1,434.17 points on Wednesday as global markets showed concerns of the escalation of war in the Middle East.
Finansia Syrus Securities (FSS) expected the SET Index to move within the range of 1,425-1,443 points, as upside in the market is limited by rising US bond yields. Meanwhile, the U.S. retail sales that came out hotter than expected reflected a resilient economy and could raise expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates one more time before the end of this year.
The U.S. President Joe Biden will no longer visit Jordan as part of his trip to the Middle East this week after the Palestinian President abruptly cancelled the 4-way meeting, following the deadly explosion at a hospital in Gaza.
The bombing was believed to be a part of Israel’s strategy over the Gaza Strip of what it calls a total siege. This includes cutting food, water and electricity supplies. Meanwhile, human rights groups have been criticizing the act for breaking humanitarian law.
Meanwhile, tech war between the U.S. and China also escalated after the report of Washington imposing new rules to restrict chip and equipment exports to Beijing. Share prices of Nvidia Corp plunged as much as 7.8% in the morning session of Wall Street, but closed only 3.24% lower. Prices continued to slide in an after-hour trading by around 2%. Intel Corporation closed 1.37% lower, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) settled 1.24% lower.
According to several reports, the new rule would prevent Nvidia from selling A800 and H800 GPUs chips in China. These two chips had been modified to meet restrictions that were first implemented in October 2022.
