Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,443.05 points, decreased 4.48 points or 0.31% with a trading value of 36.08 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market traded sideways as the index lacked new supporting catalysts despite the government announcing measures to help alleviate household debt.
Meanwhile, investors are closely monitoring the forthcoming release of the US CPI data, anticipating a minor uptick compared to October.
The analyst foresees potential volatility in the Thai market the following day, with a particular focus on DELTA and the possibility of lifting cash balance measures.
Thailand’s cabinet has given the green light to a set of measures aimed at managing household debt. These include a pause on interest payments and decreases in principal payments in order to alleviate the burden on retail borrowers and SMEs.
In its latest Development Outlook report, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised its growth projection for Thailand’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the current year, while maintaining the estimates for the succeeding year.
This year’s forecast has seen an upsurge from the initial 2.3% to 2.6% for Thailand, with next year’s growth remaining static at 2.7%. Meanwhile, prospects of economic expansion for developing Asia, encompassing 46 Asia-Pacific nations, show a decline with the predictions now standing at 4.9% for 2024 and 4.8% for the coming year, exhibiting a drop from previous projections of 5.0% and 4.9%, respectively.
Corporate goods prices in Japan witnessed a surge, driven primarily by agricultural products and utilities and reaching the highest pace in 16 months. The data confirms intensifying inflationary stress in the economy, reinforcing the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) path towards policy normalization.
Input prices for Japanese companies escalated by 3.7% in November year-on-year, surpassing all predictions made by the 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
North Korea commented on the political instability in South Korea for the first time, stating that the country is in “chaos” due to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s one-night imposition of martial law and adding that the international community is observing, as the event exposed weaknesses in South Korean society and could potentially end Yoon Suk Yeol’s political life.
The upcoming US consumer price index (CPI) report is expected to show a 2.7% year-over-year inflation rate for November, reflecting a 0.1 percentage point rise from October and stalled progress in curbing inflation. However, this is not expected to be significant enough to prevent the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates next week.
