Thursday was another day that the Stock of Exchange of Thailand (SET) outperformed expectations amid volatility. The index surged from almost a 40-point loss to close down by just 3.96 points following the Dow Jones’ recovery.
The SET closed at 1044.19 points on Thursday, down 3.96 points, or 0.38 per cent, from the previous day. The index year-to-date return is now at -33.91 per cent as the exchange lost more than 500 points from 1595.82 on January 2, to 1044.19 on March 19 with a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14 times and an earnings per share of 85.99 baht.
The gains yesterday were led by shares within the utilities and telecommunication sectors as more people are working and studying from home. Shares of hospitals such as BH continue to do well while TQM Insurance Broker’s shares surged by 14.6 per cent on Thursday due to demand for insurance against Covid-19. Shares of department stores continue to suffer from the partial shutdown of Bangkok and its surrounding areas.
Externally, the Dow Jones closed positively on Thursday as the index traded up by 188.27 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 20087.19. S&P 500 also gained 11.29 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 2409.39, as US bourses are responding positively to its government’s US$1 trillion economic stabilization plan against the outbreak. Oil prices also rebounded.
The US’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude price surged more than 23 per cent on Thursday, or US$4.85, its best day on record, to settle at US$25.22 per barrel as the US’s Energy Department announced Thursday that it will purchase 77 million barrels of American-made crude oil to begin to fill its reserves. Nevertheless, that is still a small gain when compared to the 60 per cent drop so far this year.
The Dow Jones is now down by more than 13 per cent this week, which could become its largest weekly percentage loss since the 2007-08 financial crisis. At the same time, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 323 points on Friday morning. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also declined after California’s governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide stay-at-home order.
With some positive news from abroad in terms of quantitative easing measures in the US and Europe, SCB Securities expect the SET to slightly rebound on Friday from the opening of 1044 to be trading around 1075-1100. The index has already traded up by more than 31 points, or 3 per cent, on Friday morning to 1076 as of 10:30am.