SET rises above 1,600 points after 4th straight day of gains
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,600.49 on Wednesday, up 13.51 points or 0.85 per cent. Transactions totalled THB92.93 billion with an index high of 1,601.09 and a low of 1,588.37, as the SET rose for the fourth straight day.
In the morning session, Krungsri Securities forecast the index on Wednesday would fluctuate between 1,580 and 1,600 points, citing the rising oil price and hopes that Thai lockdown restrictions will be eased amid the falling Covid-19 caseload.
However, it predicted the index would be under pressure from investors selling off shares to cut risk ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s annual meeting, as well as risk from the resistance level of 1,600 points.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were KBANK, 7UP, PTT, EA, TTA, PTTGC, GPSC, CBG, KCE and HANA.
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Other Asian indices were mixed:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 27,724.80, down 7.30 points or 0.026 per cent.
China’s Shanghai SE Composite Index closed at 3,540.38, up 25.91 points or 0.74 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 14,697.50, up 33.95 points or 0.23 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 25,693.95, down 33.97 points or 0.13 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI closed at 3,146.81, up 8.51 points or 0.27 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX closed at 17,045.86, up 227.13 points or 1.35 per cent.
Job figures improved in the second quarter of 2021 but unemployment remains high due to the Covid-19 crisis, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) said on Wednesday.
Second-quarter employment rose by 2 per cent year on year, with farm and non-farm employment rising 2.4 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.
Rising employment in the construction, hotel, restaurants and logistics sectors was offset by falls in manufacturing and retail.
A gradual rise was seen in export businesses, such as computer, electronics, rubber products and auto manufacturing.
However, unemployment remained high, with 730,000 people or 1.89 per cent jobless, said NESDC secretary-general Danucha Pichayanan.
Of them, 290,000 were new graduates and 440,000 had been laid off.
He said 310,000 people, or 2.8 per cent of social security recipients, had claimed unemployment assistance in the second quarter.
Many workers had been affected by the economic impact of Covid-19 restrictions, said Danucha.
The 29 provinces under lockdown measures have 10.2 million workers but only 5.5 per cent of these were able to work from home, he added.
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The government should subsidise wages for the self-employed, 7.3 million of whom would be affected by the restrictions, said the NESDC chief.
“The government should also launch guidelines to help the unemployed become self-employed,” he added.
SET gets a lift from hopes of lockdown being eased
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index rose by 6.49 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 1,593.47 on Wednesday morning.
The SET Index closed at 1,586.98 on Tuesday, up 4.91 points or 0.31 per cent. Transactions totalled THB100.70 billion with an index high of 1,598.39 and a low of 1,585.46.
Krungsri Securities forecast the index on Wednesday would fluctuate between 1,580 and 1,600 points amid hopes that the lockdown would be eased due to a decline in domestic Covid-19 cases, as well as the rising oil price.
However, it predicted that the index would be under pressure due to investors’ mass sell-offs of shares to prevent risks before the US Federal Reserve’s annual meeting, as well as risk at the resistance level of 1,600 points.
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It recommended selective buying as an investment strategy:
▪︎ AOT, CPN, CRC, HMPRO, AAV, BA, MINT, CENTEL, AMATA and WHA, which would benefit from the country’s reopening.
▪︎ PSL, TTA and RCL, which would benefit from a rise in the freight rate.
▪︎ PTT, PTTEP, TOP, PTTGC and BANPU, which benefit from rising oil price.
Gold edges lower in Thailand, HK despite Comex demand spike
The price of gold dropped by THB100 on Wednesday morning.
AGold Traders Association report at 9.22am said the buying price of a gold bar was THB27,950 per baht weight and selling price THB28,050, while gold ornaments were priced at THB27,439.60 and THB28,550, respectively.
At close on Tuesday, the buying price of a gold bar was THB28,050 per baht weight and selling price THB28,150, while gold ornaments were THB27,545.72 and THB28,650, respectively.
Spot gold price on Wednesday morning was moving at around US$1,795 (THB59,127) per ounce after Comex gold rose by $2.20 to $1,808.50 per ounce at close on Tuesday, due to support for buying gold as a safe-haven asset amid concerns over the effects of the Covid-19 Delta variant. Meanwhile, investors are monitoring the US Federal Reserve annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming from August 26-28 for indicators of its monetary policy direction.
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Hong Kong gold price, meanwhile, dropped by HK$50 to $16,680 (THB70,581) per tael, the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society reported.
Baht gains amid change in perception on Covid situation
The baht opened at 32.88 to the US dollar on Wednesday, strengthening from Tuesday’s closing rate of 32.92, the strongest in almost a month.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 32.80 and 33.00 during the day, Krungthai Bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool said.
Poon explained that investors had changed their views on the Covid-19 situation, which had led to the weakening of the dollar.
The baht may strengthen in the short term on hopes that the situation in Thailand was likely past its worst point, attracting foreign investors to invest in Thai stocks.
The Thai currency might slow down close to its support level of 32.80 to the US currency, the price range importers are waiting for to buy dollars, he said.
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The baht will stay around this level as investors are buying up the US currency as the month draws to a close.
However, Poon believed the baht was likely to fluctuate and weaken as the situation was not clearly better. The baht has also been affected by the strengthening dollar.
If the situation worldwide does not improve along with the US Federal Reserve’s move to reduce quantitative easing (QE), stock prices might be affected, Poon noted.
Foreign investors will temporarily decrease investments in Asian emerging markets as they might be worried about the effects of a reduction in QE, much like the QE “taper tantrum” in 2013, he added.
U.S. stocks top record as strong earnings continue
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities rose to record highs as strong corporate earnings and a rally in commodity prices outweighed lingering concerns about the threat of Covid-19 to the global economy.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gained as Best Buy Co. became the latest U.S. retailer to report robust consumer demand while the price of oil and iron ore similarly gained on improving sentiment.
Energy, consumer discretionary and materials stocks were among the best performers as investors also awaited insights from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s address from Jackson Hole this week.
“As long as the economic and corporate earnings environments continue to improve, the market is likely to withstand ongoing concerns about the virus and policy,” said Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments. “That said, risks for the market are becoming more balanced as we move throughout the market cycle.”
While markets started the week with a strong global rally, equities in the U.S. and Europe remain volatile on concern over the spread of the delta variant and tighter monetary policy. Economic data so far this week have painted a mixed picture, with manufacturing purchasing managers’ indexes in Europe and the U.S. showing continued growth, though slowing from last month’s levels.
“How the Fed tapers is the next major variable for this market,” wrote Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded The Sevens Report newsletter. “We do not expect these specifics to be announced on Friday. They will come at the September meeting. But we do expect Powell to hint at an outcome. And given the Fed’s changes to the conference (masks, more social distancing, Powell virtual), if there’s going to be a surprise, it’s likely dovish.”
With the Pfizer Inc. vaccine gaining full approval in the U.S. and cases falling in many of the original delta-variant hot spots, optimism is growing about the momentum of the global economic recovery, especially after strong corporate earnings.
“We are starting to see a bit of decoupling between new waves of the virus and how the markets – and how the economy – reacts to it,” Dan Skelly, head of market research and strategy at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “We do expect virus concerns to subside in the coming weeks.”
Stephen Dover, chief market strategist and head of Franklin Templeton Investment Institute, said “incredible” corporate earnings growth has been better than expected, which will be vital if the rally is to continue.
“The U.S. just keeps continuing to outperform, to which we keep saying, how long can this go on?” Dover said. “How long does it really make sense that the U.S. still outperforms the rest of the world, at least in terms of the equity market? And the answer seems to be, well, at least a bit longer.”
Earlier in the session, a rebound in Chinese tech stocks drove gains in global equities after solid results at JD.com Inc. drew in investors including Cathie Wood. In Asia, equities in Japan and China gained while in Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 index ended a mixed day little changed.
Iron ore climbed on expectations additional support from the Chinese government will boost demand. WTI crude rallied to above $67 a barrel. Treasuries fell and the dollar was weaker.
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Here are some events to watch this week:
– Bank of Korea policy decision; briefing by Governor Lee Ju-yeol Thursday
– Fed officials attend the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium from Thursday through Saturday
– U.S. GDP, initial jobless claims Thursday
– July U.S. personal income and spending data Friday. Investors will scrutinize the personal consumption expenditures price index, an inflation measure closely watched by the Fed.
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Some of the main moves in markets:
– – –
– The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
– The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%
– The Dow Jones industrial average was little changed
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– The MSCI World index rose 0.6%
– – –
– The Bloomberg Dollar Spot index fell 0.2%
– The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1757
– The British pound was little changed at $1.3732
– The Japanese yen was little changed at 109.67 per dollar
– – –
– The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 1.29%
– Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.48%
– Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.54%
– – –
– West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.2% to $67.72 a barrel
– Gold futures were little changed
Published : August 25, 2021
By : Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Vildana Hajric, Kamaron Leach
Companies move to mandate coronavirus shots as FDA grants full approval to Pfizer vaccine
A growing number of companies were moving to impose vaccine requirements as the Food and Drug Administration issued full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, eliminating one of the central remaining arguments used by the vaccine-hesitant.
CVS Health, UPS, Deloitte and Walt Disney Co. said they would add or expand vaccine requirements for workers – while in a sign of increasing vaccine requirements at sporting events, Louisiana State University said Tuesday it will require all spectators at Tiger Stadium over the age of 12 to provide proof of vaccination or a recent negative test.
In taking the new measures, some companies cited the spread of the delta variant as well as the FDA approval, saying it would put more workers at ease with requiring the vaccine.
“We took this step because of the spread of the delta variant and the dramatic rise in cases among the unvaccinated,” Michael DeAngelis, a CVS Health spokesman, said in an email. “However, the FDA approval underscores the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, and we are pleased that it may help reassure any employees who have been hesitant to get vaccinated.”
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CVS Health, which owns a chain of nearly 10,000 retail pharmacies, as well as the health insurer Aetna and pharmacy benefits manager CVS Caremark, said it will require nurses, care managers and all corporate staff to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 31, and all pharmacists working in its retail stores to be vaccinated by Nov. 30.
Deloitte told staff Tuesday it would require employees to be vaccinated by Oct. 11 to access its U.S. facilities, a date it noted in a statement was “seven weeks after full FDA approval of a major vaccine.”
And Walt Disney Co. will require employees who are members of its largest union at Walt Disney World in Florida to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 22, under a deal reached Monday with a union coalition.
Disney’s move came several weeks after it announced a vaccine mandate for all salaried and nonunion hourly employees in the United States.
Eric Clinton, president of Unite Here Local 362, which represents unionized workers at Walt Disney World in Florida, said the union had been negotiating for four weeks. He noted that a majority of the union’s members are already vaccinated, but that “any FDA approval is helpful. Our organization has made no bones about it – we are pro vaccine.” (Disney said it had also reached a deal with the Actors’ Equity Association Monday and is continuing discussions with other unions.)
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Oil and gas company Chevron said in an emailed statement Monday that it is requiring expatriate employees, workers traveling abroad, Gulf of Mexico offshore workers and some onshore support personnel to be vaccinated.
The company said its decision predates the FDA approval.
As the delta variant surged, scuttling workplace reopening plans, a number of employers had already begun to impose vaccine mandates – even before the FDA decision about full approval of the Pfizer vaccine. Google and Facebook announced mandates for certain employees in late July, and meat processor Tyson Foods and United Airlines did so in early August.
Those moves accelerated over the summer as the federal government announced that workers would have to get a coronavirus vaccine or comply with regular testing, mandatory masking and other restrictions.
In remarks made Monday at the White House, President Joe Biden urged companies to increase vaccine requirements.
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“If you’re a business leader, a nonprofit leader, a state or local leader who has been waiting for full FDA approval to require vaccinations, I call on you now to do that – require it. Do what I did last month and require your employees to get vaccinated or face strict requirements,” Biden said.
Lawyers and human resources experts who work with businesses said they anticipate that more companies will add mandates in the coming weeks.
“With the full FDA approval, and the president’s comments, that will prompt companies to move those discussions forward,” said Wade Symons, a partner with Mercer. He said he spoke with a client who decided to go “all the way” on a mandate rather than just incentivize workers to get their shots.
“We may not hear today or tomorrow, but within the next couple of weeks,” he said. “These are big weighty decisions that employers need to make, and they’ve been proceeding carefully.”
Full approval may make employers who were considering mandates more comfortable.
“Legally, an employer was allowed to mandate a vaccine even when it was only authorized under the emergency use authorization,” said Sharon Perley Masling, a partner at Morgan Lewis and former senior counsel to a commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
But she said: “I think there were some employers who were more hesitant to require employees to vaccinate themselves with a vaccine that had not received full approval. … I think this will put those employers at ease.”
Others agreed that more companies will follow suit. “I think it is going to have a meaningful impact,” said Brett Coburn, a labor and employment lawyer with Alston & Bird in Atlanta.
“Some employers may decide [to mandate] for the first time; others may speed it up,” Coburn said.
Employers that still choose not to mandate the vaccine may be doing so out of concern about replacing workers at a time when many industries are scrambling to find staff.
“Which part of your workforce are you going to frustrate: Those who don’t want to get vaccinated or those who want everyone to get vaccinated?” said Brian Kropp, vice president of research at Gartner.
While he expects vaccine mandates to increase, he predicted that most companies still won’t enact them: Employers are evaluating which groups are harder to replace, or more likely to leave, and responding to those workers when thinking through the “calculus” of mandates.
Mandates for hourly workers can be particularly challenging because they often involve large workforces with high turnover rates.
“If they haven’t been vaccinated you have to wait six weeks, and that just doesn’t work when the average tenure is six months” in some industries, he said. “Given how competitive the labor market is, companies don’t want to put any more constraints on themselves when they want to hire.”
The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents 1.3 million essential workers in the grocery, retail, pharmacies and meatpacking industries, said Monday it welcomed the FDA’s move, as “a key step to addressing vaccine hesitancy and boosting vaccination efforts.” The union had previously expressed concern about a vaccine mandate at Tyson before full approval.
Some employers said they were not yet changing their policy following the full FDA approval.
Delta Air Lines said in an emailed statement that it will continue to encourage employees to get vaccinated and that its overall workforce vaccination rate is 75%. (It is requiring new hires in the U.S. to be vaccinated.)
American Airlines said it will continue to encourage and incentivize vaccinations.
Cabinet agrees to keep VAT at 7% for another 2 years
The Cabinet on Tuesday agreed to maintain the VAT rate at 7 per cent for another two years from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2023. The 7 per cent rate of value-added tax will be collected on sales of goods, services, and all imports (or 6.3 per cent excluding local taxes), said government spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek.
The rate will not affect revenue projections for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, because income estimates have been calculated in the budget preparation period.
Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry told the Cabinet that the 7 per cent rate will not affect revenue collection for fiscal years 2021 and 2022, since it has already been incorporated in the revenue projection.
Every 1 per cent hike in VAT increases the government’s income by about 70 billion baht.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,586.98 on Tuesday, up 4.91 points or 0.31 per cent. Transactions totalled THB100.70 billion with an index high of 1,598.39 and a low of 1,585.46.
In the morning session, Krungsri Securities expected Tuesday’s index to move between 1,590 and 1,600 points on hopes of the lockdown easing as domestic Covid-19 cases drop.
It added that the index also gained positive sentiment from the rising oil price and expectations that the US Federal Reserve will delay tapering of its quantitative easing programme following a dip in the Purchasing Managers’ Index.
“However, the index will be under pressure due to sell-offs of shares to manage risk before the Fed’s annual meeting,” Krungsri Securities said.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were PTT, KBANK, OR, PTTEP, BBL, KCE, PTTGC, GUNKUL, CPALL and IVL.
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Other Asian indices were on the rise:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 27,732.10, up 237.86 points or 0.87 per cent.
China’s Shanghai SE Composite Index closed at 3,514.47, up 37.34 points or 1.07 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 14,663.55, up 127.67 points or 0.88 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 25,727.92, up 618.33 points or 2.46 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI closed at 3,138.30, up 48.09 points or 1.56 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX closed at 16,818.73, up 76.89 points or 0.46 per cent.
Lawmakers approve return to 2-ballot electoral system
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed an amendment to bring the return of the two-ballot election system.
MPs voted in favour of amending Article 83 of the 2017 Constitution after four and a half hours of deliberation. The vote was won by a majority of 70, with 91 abstentions.
Bhumjaithai, the second-largest party in the government coalition, carried through its threat to abstain from the vote after arguing that the two-ballot system favours large parties at the expense of medium-sized and small parties.
Democrat Party MP Chinnawan Boonyakiat, a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee, insisted the amendment was needed to combat so-called “ghost votes” and election results that favour small parties and undermine the stability of governments.
The switch back to two ballot papers would also boost people’s electoral rights by allowing them to vote separately for constituency and party-list MPs, said Chinnawan.
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