Asia Stocks Halt after IMF Raises Global GDP Forecast and Warns of New Covid-19 Variants

Stocks in Asia mixed in the morning session on Wednesday after the IMF revised up the global economic forecast this year, but warned that the new Covid-19 variants could derail the growth.

 

As of 9:32 local time in Thailand on Wednesday, Nikkei rose 0.07%, SSEC dropped 0.33%, HSI dipped 0.58%, ASX200 fell 0.83%, while Kospi increased 0.37%.

Yesterday, SET Index closed at 1,512.83 points, increased 11.21 points or 0.75% with a target price at 87.8 billion baht.

 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected the global economic forecast to grow 5.5% this year, a 0.3 percentage point higher than its previous forecast in October last year, while seeing 4.2% growth in 2022. However, the Fund expressed concerns on the new Covid-19 variants that showed a rapid contraction rate, followed by more daily new cases and deaths.