Krungsri Securities (KSS) expected Thailand’s SET Index to move within the range of 1,375-1,400 points. The analyst stated that there are positive factors in the market from expectations of the US Fed cutting interest rates in June, resulting in declining bond yields and USD. However, hotter-than-expected non-farm payroll in February and weakening crude oil prices could pressure the market this week to fluctuate.
China recorded the first rise in consumer prices since August from its February inflation data. The annual CPI rose 0.7% vs 0.4% expected and -0.8% in January. Meanwhile, monthly CPI rose 1.0% vs 0.4% expected and 0.3% in January.
Annual PPI was -2.7% vs -2.5% expected and -2.5% in January, while monthly PPI was -0.2% vs -0.2% in January.
Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman said that Bitcoin could go to infinity and will collapse the economy if demand continues to rise.
He wrote on X, saying that Bitcoin price rise leads to increased mining and greater energy use, driving up the cost of energy, causing inflation to rise and the dollar to decline, driving demand for Bitcoin and increased mining, driving demand for energy and the cycle continues.
Japan narrowly avoided a technical recession after its revised GDP report showed 0.4% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2023 when compared to a year earlier. The preliminary data before that suggested Japan’s economy contracted 0.4% in the final quarter of last year.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis, Japan’s GDP rose 0.1% in the month from October to December, compared to a 0.1% contraction in the provisional data.
