A stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected that the SET Index would move between 1,240 and 1,270 since investors hope that central banks worldwide would loosen monetary policy and cut interest rate to tackle the economic recession amid Covid-19 outbreak.

“Investors still remain under pressure following the worldwide spread of Covid-19 with the number of patients worldwide rising to over 100,000,” the stock analyst said.

“Meanwhile, Italy’s move to lock down the country to control the outbreak would affect the European economy.”

An analyst said that oil prices tended to maintain a low level after Saudi Arabia announced cuts to oil prices and planned to increase oil production capacity by over 10 million barrels per day in April this year, resulting in negative sentiment for energy and petrochemical stocks.

“However, the stock index will rebound since investors hope that many central banks will loosen monetary policy and cut interest rate to tackle economic recession,” the stock analyst said.

“The European Central Bank will hold a meeting on March 12 this year, the US Federal Reserve will hold a meeting on March 17-18, and the Thai Monetary Policy Committee will meet on March 25.”

The analyst recommended four groups of stocks for investors:

● Stocks that would benefit from the declining oil price, such as TASCO and EPG.

● Hotel and retail stocks, which would benefit from the economic Cabinet’s approval of Bt100 billion economic stimulus measures, such as CENTEL, ERW, HMPRO, and BJC.

● Financial stocks, which responded to reduced financial costs due to interest rate cut trends, such as MTC, SAWAD, and KTC.

● Defensive stocks which pay high dividends, such as ADVANC, INTUCH, and TTW.