Daily Strategy: FSS Recommends Reopening Theme, Seeing Long-Term Growth in Banks

Stocks in Asia traded higher on Friday after a plummet yesterday as Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed lower for the fourth day in a row.

 

Thailand’s SET Index opened at 1,634.47 points, increased 5.35 points or 0.33%.

As of 10:03 local time in Thailand on September 10, 2021, Nikkei jumped 1.13%, Shanghai Composite rose 0.18%, Hang Seng Index gained 1.43%, ASX 200 increased 0.19% and IDX Composite edged slightly above the closing level by less than 0.01%.

 

Yesterday, the European Central Bank (ECB) maintained its policy rate at 0%, on the marginal lending facility at 0.25% and on the deposit facility at -0.5% as Eurozone inflation went up to a decade high of 3% in August. ECB stated that the banks are not tapering, but recalibrating.

The U.S. Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped by 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 310,000 for the week ended September 4, 2021, the lowest level since mid-March 2020. The claims were lower than what analysts had expected of 335,000.

 

Mr. Kantara Ladawan na Ayutthaya, executive director of Finansia Syrus Securities (FSS), through “Kaohoon Jor Talad Program” on September 10, 2021, stated that the Thai stock market should mainly focus and move in response to the anticipation of lockdown and curfew lifting, while the ECB policy rate and QE tapering decision was in line with investors’ expectation.

As for the shifting in political issues, Mr. Ladawan expected the market to pay little to no attention to the matter.

The analyst expected the situation in Thailand to get better, including gradual easing and lifting lockdown and curfew as well as the emergency decree, which is the key for Thailand’s economic reopening.

For the investment strategy, Mr. Ladawan recommended reopening plays on retail, restaurants, tourism, finance stocks, pointing out that the banking stocks are recovering and will perform well in the long-term.