Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,378.73 points, decreased 10.82 points or 0.78% with a trading value of 41.6 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market was pressured by declining energy stocks, following a plummet in oil prices, especially big-cap stocks such as PTTEP and PTT that outperformed the market before this downturn. The analyst noted that Thailand still lacks positive drivers to push the index higher, expecting the market to move in a sideways trend tomorrow.
Thailand’s headline consumer price index (CPI) for November came in at -0.44% from a year earlier, versus a -0.31% year-on-year drop in the previous month, according to an official report from the commerce ministry on Thursday.
The contraction in consumer price was slightly higher than a forecast for -0.30% in November from a Reuters poll.
Meanwhile, core CPI, which excludes the volatile food and oil prices, was at 0.58% year-on-year in November, versus a forecast of 0.60%.
The Japanese yen outperformed other currencies in the region today as it rose 1.5% against the US dollar for the biggest one-day gain since January and the strongest in more than three months.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is a black sheep among major central banks as it maintains a policy of ultra-low rates that has sent its own currency to decades low against the greenback several times in recent years that forced the government to intervene in the market.
Expectations are growing in the foreign exchange market for BOJ to finally give a signal that it will soon relax the ultra-low interest rates policy at the meeting scheduled next week.
Kazuo Ueda, BOJ Governor, noted that once the central bank pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory, it will give several options on the monetary policy.
The yen was last up 1.48% against the US dollar at 145.16.
China’s November exports in yuan terms rose 1.7% YoY, but increased only 0.5% YoY in US dollar terms, according to customs agency data released Thursday. This marked its first growth in six months.
The US dollar terms beat the 1.1% drop expected in a Reuters poll. Meanwhile, imports fell 0.6%, following a 3.0% increase in October.
PTTEP yields remarkable oil and gas consecutive discoveries offshore Malaysia, one of which marks a considerable petroleum potential PTTEP has explored in the country. The company is strategically poised to expedite the development of these discoveries through a cluster development approach, paving the way for long-term growth in Malaysia.
