Asia Stocks Trade in a Mixed Session amid Vaccine Rollout and U.S. $1.9tn Bills Signing

Stocks in Asia had mixed trading sessions amid positive sentiment in the market as Wall Street climbed higher last night in response to the vaccine rollout and the signing of $1.9 trillion by the U.S. President Joe Biden.

 

As of 9:24 local time in Thailand on Friday, Nikkei rose 0.78%, SSEC dropped 0.48%, HSI fell 0.41%, ASX 200 gained 0.93% and Kospi hiked 1.30%.

Last night, Dow Jones closed 188.57 points higher or 0.58% to 32,485.59 points. S&P 500 increased 1.04% and Nasdaq jumped 2.52%.

Yesterday, SET Index closed at 1,575.13 points, increased 2.08 points or 0.13% with a trading value of 102 billion baht.

 

Asia Wealth Securities (AWS) expect the SET to move within the range of 1,560-1,591 points, hoping the stock market will recover after positive factors supporting (1) U.S. economic stimulus measures through a faster-than-expected signing process from the U.S. leader, (2) the ECB maintains interest rates and QE limits, signaling a QE increase in 2Q21 and (3) inflation concerns lower. This is reflected by U.S. 10-year Treasury yields plummeting to lower than 1.5%. For investment strategy, AWS recommended Selective, confidence on the overall economy rising reflected by rising crude oil prices.

AWS recommended speculating PTT, PTTGC and TOP, and recommended investing in stocks based on core investments section, especially green energy stocks, stocks that benefit from the anticipation of the opening up of the economy (Expectations for the vaccine and economic stimulus measures).

 

The US Department of Labor reported the number of first-time jobless benefits fell to 712,000 last week, lower than the Market Consensus expected of 725,000.

 

Core Investment

1) Global Play (Trading within 1 month) – PTT, PTTEP, TOP, PTTGC and SCC

2) Green energy stocks (Trading within 3-6 months) – GPSC, EGCO, GULF, BGRIM, BPP, BCPG, EA and ACE

3) Expectations for the vaccine and increased stimulus measures (Trading for 3-6 months) – CPALL, AOT, AAV, ERW, BDMS, CHG, AMATA and WHA.

4) Dividend Play (Middle-term trading 6-12 months) – SC, LH, QH, KKP, TISCO, RATCH, DIF, INTUCH, EASTW and TTW

5) Long term accumulative stocks (DCA) (Long-term trading over 1 year) – AOT, BEM, ADVANC, WHA, LH, CPALL, CPF, BDMS, HMPRO, BBL and KTB