Monday is the first ever Songkran investors will be able to trade on as the traditional holiday has been cancelled by the outbreak of the coronavirus.
One good news, for the energy sector, is that OPEC+ has reached a historic agreement to cut 9.7 million barrels per day of production due to oversupply and lack of demand. This basically puts an end to the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
As a result, oil prices went up on Monday morning. US’ WTI crude went up 5.45 per cent to US$24 per barrel while the international benchmark, Brent crude, went up 4.42 per cent to $32.87 per barrel.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, led by energy exporters, was also up by 3.47 per cent this morning but Japan’s Nikkei 225 remain subdued as it was down by 0.76 per cent. The different swing between Australia and Japan bourses is expected to represent the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)’s trading movement on Monday.
CGS-CIMB Securities (Thailand) expects the SET to fluctuate this morning as most Asian exchanges traded down after Dow Jones, as the outbreak persists in the US. The country’s death toll has now exceeded 10,000 fatalities. The reopening of China has also led to a spike in new cases which has the world worried over a second outbreak on the mainland.
The firm also expects banks’ shares to add pressure on the SET as their first quarter results are due out soon and the outlook is not optimistic. CGS-CIMB Securities sees the index in the range of 1217-1243. For Krungsri Securities, the firm sees the index in the range of 1215-1240 with fluctuation.
SET closed at 1,228.03 points, up 17.55 points or 1.45 per cent on Friday. The index already traded up by 0.29 per cent to 1232 at the opening on Monday.
