Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,367.96 points, increased 3.44 points or 0.25% with a trading value of 42 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market traded sideways following the decision of the US Fed to hold its interest rate and speculation in specific stocks following their positive earnings results in 4Q23. Meanwhile, investors paid attention to the domestic political issue following the petition to dissolve the Move Forward Party (MFP).
The analyst expected the market to trade sideways tomorrow, while recommending investors to keep their eyes on the US nonfarm payrolls.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged between 5.25-5.50 range as expected while signaling that policymakers are not ready to start cutting rates as soon as the next meeting.
The US central bank stated after the meeting to decide the next move on policy rates that risks to goals are moving into better balance as officials voted to maintain its pace of quantitative tightening.
Hopes for a rate cut in March became smaller as the Fed signaled that it is not looking to cut rates in the next meeting as the move is not appropriate until the central bank gains more confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%.
This is the fourth straight meeting that the Fed decided to hold rates and the market does not like the move and tone from policy makers.
Mr. Chai Wacharonke, spokesman for the government of Thailand, stated that Mr. Srettha Thavisin, Prime Minister of Thailand and Minister of Finance, had invited Chinese tourists to travel to Thailand through the products and services promotion activity for tourism video conference via a live streaming platform called CTrip, noting that Thailand is ready to become the destination for tourists and uplift the safety standard for tourists in every aspect.
The Thai government had passed a resolution regarding visa wavering for Chinese passport holders to promote tourism for Chinese travelers to come to Thailand and affirmed that the government emphasized quality in traveling, regaining confidence from tourists, and improving safety standards as significant matters.
The announcement of the Thai-Chinese visa waiver had positive feedback from Chinese travelers, as the total search of the word ‘Thailand’ on the platform of CTrip Group rose by 90% within an hour.
