Asia Plus Secs. Recommends 19 Safe Haven Stocks to Buy amid Market Volatility

AstraZeneca Thailand published an open letter to the people of Thailand on July 24 written by its managing director James Teague, affirming that Thailand should be able to supply 5-6 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine per month.

According to the letter, AstraZeneca has already delivered 9 million doses of vaccine to Thailand and plans to give an additional 2.3 million doses between July 26 – August 1, 2021. This is part of a plan to supply 61 million doses of vaccines to Thailand.

Asia Plus Securities (ASPS) stated that the SET Index rebounded in the few days was a technical rebound as Covid-19 new cases are still rising and made a new high of almost 15,000 cases. Many sectors already fell and entered the oversold one (RSI below 30), so it bounced up in the past 1-2 days. 

As the SET is pressured by the new wave of Covid-19, ASPS is looking for safe havens. Some sectors are safe from the pandemic and either rose or outperformed the SET amid the spread of Delta variant and a slowdown in vaccine distribution (June 15–July 21): Packaging (PKG), Electronic Components (ETRON), Health Care Services (HELTH), Food & Beverage (FOOD), and Agribusiness (AGRI).

In contrast, some sectors were pressured by the 2Q20 lockdown and either suffered a sharp decline in earnings or faced loss: Banking (BANK), Construction Services (CONS), Property Development (PROP) – (shopping mall), Transportation & Logistics (TRANS), Tourism & Leisure (TOURISM), and Media & Publishing (MEDIA).

However, if infection does not slow down, ASPS favors stocks operating in green zones. When infection slows down (especially when it is slower than recovery), ASPS recommends those in red zones. As new case count is still rising, ASPS recommends stocks that are safe amid Covid-19: PKG (favor SCGP), ETRON, HELTH (favor BDMS), FOOD (favor TVO, SAPPE, TU), AGRI (favor NER).