Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,387.69 points, decreased 13.73 points or 0.98% with a trading value of 51.4 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market broke the support level of 1,400 points, following the GDP cut from the Bank of Thailand that impacted on investors sentiment. A selloff in big-cap stocks such as AOT, CPALL, CPAXT and DELTA also pressured the Thai market.
Meanwhile, investors were also leaving Asia markets to lower the risk before the announcement of China’s PMI.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) announced that the Feed-in tariff (Ft) for January – April 2024 will be at THB 4.68 per unit. The said Ft is adjusted from the current level (September – December 2023) of THB 3.9893, representing an increase by THB 0.6907 per unit. This is the lowest adjustment according to the proposal of the ERC.
The Bank of Thailand maintained interest rates at 2.50% in the meeting today. The Committee projected growth of 2.4 and 3.2 percent in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The growth projection that accounts for the government’s digital wallet scheme is 3.8 percent in 2024, compared with the previous assessment of 4.4 percent.
Headline inflation is projected to stay within the target range, at 1.3 and 2.0 percent in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The projection that accounts for the digital wallet scheme is 2.2 pecent in 2024, relative to the previous assessment of 2.6 percent.
Vietnam’s parliament came to the conclusion to raise the effective tax rate to 15% for multinationals starting from January 2024 and also delayed the measures to compensate the higher levy to foreign investors, which could have a huge impact on their businesses.
The parliament endorsed the higher tax rate to be in line with a global agreement, which has been approved and implemented by more than 140 countries, while saying the National Assembly is not issuing a separate resolution on investment incentives at this time.
According to the government’s document, 122 foreign countries will be affected by the tax increase, with an estimation of the additional intake for the state at 14.6 trillion dong (approx. $601 million) a year.
Seiji Adachi, a Bank of Japan’s board member, said on Wednesday that it was premature to discuss an end to negative policy rates as the central bank would want to see whether wages will rise enough before stepping out of the negative territory, which could take a few months into next year.
According to Adachi, the Bank of Japan needs a clear sign that prices and wages would rise in tandem while keeping inflation at a sustainable target rate of 2% before exiting the negative policy rates.
He added that sufficient data of wage negotiations between corporates and unions would not be available until after April 2024, which would mark the beginning of the new fiscal year for Japan.
