Asia Stocks Plunge Sharply after a Joyful Week amid the Rebounding of U.S. Bond Yield

Stocks in Asia edged lower on Thursday after a series of gains this week, while the U.S. bond yield started to recover to near 1.5%.

 

As of 9:30 local time in Thailand, Nikkei plunged 1.71%, SSEC dropped 1.25%, HSI fell 1.47%, ASX 200 slipped 0.94% and Kospi dipped 1.13%.

The U.S. 10-year bond yield rebounded to 1.48% after a slowdown earlier this week. Meanwhile, the Thai 10-year bond yield rose to 1.85%.

Yesterday, SET Index closed at 1,543.40 points, increased 40.04 points or 2.66% with a trading value of 118 billion baht.

 

Asia Wealth Securities (AWS) expected the SET today (4 Mar) to move within the range of 1,523-1,561 points. Increased bond yield will come back to be a factor that depresses the overall investment again, including the pressure on the stocks in the Defensive Stock that AWS had previously introduced.

While energy stocks rose yesterday (3 Mar), AWS believed positive expectations that OPEC+ will resolve to maintain capacity in April, along with the SET rose yesterday, so today’s investment must still be cautious of short-term profit-taking.

For investment strategy, the investment weight just speculates a new round and begins to accumulate stocks, focusing on investing in groups with unique positive factors, especially the stocks that benefit from vaccines based on the core investment.

 

Core Investment

1) Global Play (Trading within 1 month) – PTT, PTTEP, TOP, PTTGC and SCC

2) Green energy stocks (Trading within 3-6 months) – GPSC, EGCO, GULF, BGRIM, BPP, BCPG, EA and ACE

3) Expectations for the vaccine and increased stimulus measures (Trading for 3-6 months) – BBL, KKP, BEM, CPF, TU, M, OSP, CPALL, HMPRO, CRC and CHG

4) Dividend Play (Middle-term trading 6-12 months) – SC, LH, QH, KKP, TISCO, RATCH, DIF, INTUCH, EASTW and TTW

5) Long term accumulative stocks (DCA) (Long-term trading over 1 year) – AOT, BEM, ADVANC, WHA, LH, CPALL, CPF, BDMS, HMPRO, BBL and KTB