Major stock markets in Asia traded higher on Wednesday, following a positive session in Wall Street last night as the Fed’s testimony did not show any surprise than what the market had expected.
On January 12, 2022, Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,676.44 points, increased 9.32 points or 0.56%.
As of 10:10 local time in Thailand, Nikkei jumped 1.86%, SSEC rose 0.19%, Hang Seng Index increased 1.84%, ASX 200 gained 0.62% and IDX Composite edged 0.37% higher.
Dow Jones closed 0.51% higher, S&P 500 increased 0.92% and Nasdaq gained 1.41%.
Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the economy is both healthy enough and expected several interest rate hikes this year to curb rising inflation.
“If we see inflation persisting at high levels longer than expected, then if we have to raise interest more over time, we will,” said Fed’s Chair Jerome Powell. “We will use our tools to get inflation back.”
Mr. Chaiyot Jiwangkul, Assistant Director of Krungsri Securities (KSS), through “Kaohoon Jor Talad Program” on January 12, 2022, expected the Thai stock market to trade in a positive territory, led by the energy sector. Meanwhile, the omicron situation in Thailand is not as severe as the market had previously anticipated, resulting in the possibility of more fund flow coming into Thailand, especially in the energy and banking sector.
More importantly, Mr. Jiwangkul noted that the reason that he believed foreign fund flow will continue to enter the emerging market is due to the fact that the U.S. will hike its interest rate while the Thai economy has just recently started to recover from its low base. Thus, he believed the Bank of Thailand could hold off a rate hike until the end of this year.
