Asian Stocks Trade Higher in Speculation ahead of FOMC’s Minutes
Stocks in Asia traded higher on Wednesday despite the plummet in Wall Street as Dow Jones snapped a 5-day winning streak last night.
As of 9:21 local time in Thailand on August 18, 2021, Nikkei rose 0.30%, SSEC gained 0.33%, HSI increased 0.33%, Kospi advanced 0.23%, while ASX 200 edged 0.03% higher.
Over the night, Dow Jones snapped its 5-day winning streak to close 0.79% lower at 35,343.28 points. S&P 500 lost 0.71% and Nasdaq fell 0.93%.
Yesterday, SET Index closed at 1,544.22 points, increased 12.98 points or 0.85% with a trading value of 83.1 billion baht.
Krungthai Zmico Securities expected the Thai stock market to extend the gain, but with a limited upside, in line with the direction in the regional markets in speculation on the FOMC minute release later today if the Fed signals to maintain QE.
However, some other factors might come into play such as the lockdown extension in Japan and the monopoly measures in China. Meanwhile, the ongoing Covid-19 situation and a record high death toll still weighed on the Thai stock market.
The analyst stated that there were some buybacks in big-cap stocks, which could somewhat lift SET Index, giving a support level for today’s session at 1,530 points and a resistance level at 1,550-1,560 points.