Asia Stocks Edge Higher in Response to U.S. Lawmakers Passing the Covid-19 Relief Bills

Stocks in Asia moved in positive territory, following a strong gain in Wall Street last night after U.S. lawmakers passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, while President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill on Friday.

 

As of 9:38 local time in Thailand, Nikkei rose 0.52%, SSEC increased 1.57%, HSI gained 1.38%, Kospi jumped 1.96%, while ASX 200 dropped 0.06%.

Last night, Dow Jones rose 1.46% to set a record high, S&P 500 gained 0.60%, while Nasdaq slipped 0.04%.

Yesterday, SET Index closed at 1,573.05 points, increased 22.46 points or 1.45% with a trading value of 108 billion baht.

 

Asia Wealth Securities (AWS) expected the SET today (10 Mar) to move in the range of 1,559-1,582 points. The stock market is likely to rise in the sideway up after negative factors from worries about the upward trend of inflation start to fall, including the progress of the economic stimulus package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives has been completed and it is expected to be enacted by the end of this week, considered earlier than expected. However, AWS stated that the market recovery is still limited by the cyclical valuation of the banking sector, energy and petrochemical after the previous hike.

 

For investment strategy, AWS continued to focus on Defensive stocks, especially in the power business. We choose BPP, GPSC, GULF and EGCO as top picks and Core investment in the theme of the vaccine expectation and increased economic stimulus measures.

 

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) – CPALL, AOT, AAV, ERW, BDMS, CHG, AMATA and WHA.

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 CORE INVESTMENT