Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,364.52 points, decreased 8.62 points or 0.63% with a trading value of 48.9 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market declined and dropped largely in the afternoon after the Constitutional Court gave a verdict regarding the case of Move Forward Party that proposed for the amendment to Section 112 to be within the scope of overthrowing the democratic regime with the king as a head of state. There was no court’s order for party dissolution, which caused the index to pare some loss. However, it is still a significant matter to be followed, as there might be applicants to file a proposal regarding the dissolution of the Move Forward Party. The circumstance caused the political factors to remain overhang, while the government had not shown any signs of additional economic stimulus policies.
The analyst expected the market to trade sideways tomorrow, and suggested investors to monitor the US Fed meeting tonight.
The Thai stock market saw a sharp decline on Wednesday after the Bank of Thailand released a dim outlook for the Thai economy in December last year that could potentially lead to a revised down in the GDP for 2023.
Concerns over the dire economy of Thailand in 2023 that could continue into 2024 weighed heavily on investors, while the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting in the US also prevented traders from making reckless moves ahead of the decision.
The BOT stated that the Thai economy slowed down from the previous quarter as tourist expenditures and the value of merchandise exports, excluding gold, softened. This was due to the subdued global demand together with structural factors, which negatively affected manufacturing production and private investment.
Meanwhile, public spending also contracted from capital expenditures of the central government as well as investment from state-owned enterprises. Nevertheless, private consumption and activities in the service sector continued to improve and remained to be the key driver of the Thai economy.
The spokesperson of BOT said that the bank could revise the estimation of Thai GDP in 2023 down from 2.4%, but did not elaborate whether the economic growth could be lower than 2% or not.
