Accelerating Vaccine Campaign to Boost Thai Market, Analysts Recomm. City Reopening Plays

A million Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived in Thailand Sunday (June 20). The Chulabhorn Royal Academy will begin the vaccine distribution to organizations and companies nationwide that have registered to obtain vaccines on June 23-24, 2021 before roll-out on June 25, 2021. As of Sunday, Thailand has administered 7.58 million doses of vaccine. Analysts expect the SET Index is at risk to move below 1,600 points this week and maintain the recommendation on city reopening stocks, especially BEM, VGI, PLANB, CRC and HMPRO.

According to Xinhua report, the first batch of China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines landed in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday (June 20, 2021), increasing support to the country’s battle against its worst wave of outbreak so far.

The shipment, imported by the Chulabhorn Royal Academy (CRA), was transported to the Department of Medical Science for quality check after the arrival, the academy said in a post on its official Facebook account. 

The CRA announced on Saturday that 17,070 organizations and companies nationwide had registered to obtain the Sinopharm vaccine to inoculate their employees.

The vaccines were considered as an alternative to the mass inoculation program launched by the government on June 7, which has proceeded so far mainly with China’s Sinovac vaccines and locally-manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines.

Thailand had provided more than 7.5 million doses of vaccinations as of Saturday. Around 5.4 million people in Thailand, or 8.3%, have already got one dose of the Covid-19 vaccination, while 2.1 million have received all two doses.

Capital Nomura Securities (CNS) forecasts the SET Index will move between 1,580 and 1,635 points this week (June 21-25), citing key events to monitor, including the revision of Thailand’s GDP projection in 2021 and 2021, and the Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting to consider the policy rate on June 23. CNS expects the MPC to maintain the benchmark interest rate at 0.50%. The report on Thai exports is recommended for watching as well.

As the number of confirmed cases in Thailand remains high and the plan to reopen the country in 120 days is very challenged due to vaccine roll-out delayed, CNS believes Thailand will be able to achieve the vaccine distribution to only 20-25% of population at the end of this year. Thus, GDP is expected to grow at a rate of 2.1% in 2021.

For international factors, CNS recommends watching the manufacturing PMI data for the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan, which is due to be released on June 21.

Asia Plus Securities (ASPS) said that as Thailand aims to speed up the vaccine distribution, economic activities will be eased sooner and Thai market will also take advantage. Investors have to watch whether the CCSA will fully reopen restaurants as planned. This have positive sentiment on city reopening stocks, especially aviation (AOT, AAV), tourism-hotel (CENTEL, ERW, MINT), mass transit  (BEM, BTS, DMT), media (MAJOR, VGI, PLANB), commerce-property (CPN, BJC, CPALL, CRC, DOHOME, HMPRO, SPVI), banking (KBANK, BBL), leasing (MTC, SAWAD, TIDLOR) and healthcare (BDMS, PR9, BCH, BH).