Thailand’s SET Index closed at 1,397 points, decreased 9.18 points or 0.65% with a trading value of 32.8 billion baht. The analyst stated that the Thai stock market broke the 1,400 support level with weak trading volume, pressured by the power generator stocks due to concerns about weak 4Q23 earnings. A selloff in petrochemical stocks due to concerns on China’s slowing down also weighed on the market as well.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has lowered its target of Chinese visitors to 3.4-3.5 million this year, following slower recovery from the pandemic and concerns about news of spreading respiratory illness in children in northern China.
Earlier this year, Thailand dreamt to welcome as much as 5-7 million of Chinese tourists in 2023, which would be a significant rise compared to the time during Covid-19, but still short of the 11-million arrivals recorded in 2019 prior to the pandemic. The figure was cut to around 4 million after seeing slow recovery in China, but hoped that the free-visa scheme introduced in late September could give a spark in the final quarter.
The authority is now expecting to see 8.2 million Chinese tourists in 2024 that could bring 452 billion baht of spending.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) statement on Thursday indicated that it wants to “limit potential consumer harm,” as the authority repeatedly warned that cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and its price speculations were not suitable for general public trading.
The new proposed regulations will ban crypto providers from accepting local credit card payments, providing margin or leverage to retail customers, and offering incentives on trading. The measures will be effective around mid-2024 onward.
The Chinese government will again purchase pork from local farms and traders for reserves in an attempt to boost weak domestic hog prices, according to the report by Bloomberg.
Amid concerns mounting over deflationary pressure in the country, Beijing has reportedly conducted two rounds of buying this year to ramp up its stockpiles. The scheme was a success in some ways as hog prices rose in July after the buying, but started to fall again in early August.
