Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,389.57 points, decreased 15.40 points or 1.10% with a trading value of 50.9 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market was pressured by the Fed’s comment that signalled for further rate hike to combat inflation and also a rise in bond yield due to a disappointment of 30-year bond auction.
In the afternoon session, the Thai PM announced the budget for digital wallet at 500,000 million baht, which was lower than prior estimates. Meanwhile, rising Thai government bond yields also pressure the stock market as well.
Preliminary figures on Friday showed that the U.K. quarterly economic growth failed to expand in the three-month period ended September 2023.
The UK reported a flat economic growth for the third quarter on a quarterly basis, following an increase of 0.2% the previous quarter. Still, it showed 0.6% growth for an annualized basis.
During this period, service sector output fell 0.1% with the production sector showing no growth. Meanwhile, construction performance recorded a slight increase of 0.1%.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt blamed inflation for the slow growth, saying that it was the UK’s greatest barrier for growth. The Consumer Price Index remained high at 6.7% YoY in September.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin stated that after working with the Bank of Thailand, the stimulus measure has been concluded to cover about 50 million Thais with a total of 600,000 million baht of budget. There will also be an e-Refund scheme for tax reduction when purchasing goods not exceeding 50,000 baht, which would also be eligible to those not included in the digital wallet scheme.
Conditions for eligibility include;
1) Thai nationality at the age over 16 years old with less than 70,000 baht of income and less than 500,000 baht in bank deposit.
2) Handouts are only for commodity goods. Services payment, online shopping, cannabis, vouchers, gems and water-electricity bills are not eligible.
3) Handouts cannot be traded in the stock exchange and cryptocurrency platform.
