The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,589.69 on Monday, down 20.92 points or 1.30 per cent. Transactions totalled 115.80 billion baht with an index high of 1,617.55 and a low of 1,587.78.
The index dropped for the third day running after falling by 2.30 per cent on Friday and 0.08 per cent on Thursday due to uncertainty over the latest Omicron Covid-19 variant in Africa, plus the fresh coronavirus wave in Europe.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were KBANK, AOT, SCB, PTT, BBL, STGT, JMART, CPALL, DELTA and ADVANC.
Other Asian indices were down with one exception:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 28,283.92, down 467.70 points or 1.63 per cent.
China’s Shanghai SE Composite closed at 3,562.70, down 1.39 points or 0.039 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component closed at 14,810.20, up 33.03 points or 0.22 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 23,852.24, down 228.28 points or 0.95 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,909.32, down 27.12 points or 0.92 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 17,328.09, down 41.30 points or 0.24 per cent.
Pattaya City has all Covid-19 prevention measures in place to hold events safely, especially the New Year countdown, mayor Sonthaya Khunpluem said on Sunday.
He said he also hopes the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will let Pattaya reopen pubs, bars, karaoke joints and other entertainment venues soon.
Sonthaya said the annual fireworks festival held over the weekend at Pattaya Central Beach was a resounding success thanks to the cooperation of the public and private sectors.
Pattaya ready for blockbuster yearend events, says mayor
He said this successful application of safety measures proves that Pattaya can serve as a model for other cities.
“We are confident that Pattaya will be safe if people do not let their guard down against Covid-19,” he said.
Pattaya ready for blockbuster yearend events, says mayor
Sonthaya also said visitors outside the event area will also be strictly screened to ensure they are not infected. The same measures were taken during the Pattaya Music Festival on November 12-13.
Pattaya ready for blockbuster yearend events, says mayor
The baht opened at 33.63 to the US dollar on Monday, weakening from the previous closing of 33.59.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 33.55 and 33.75 during the day and between 33.35 and 34 during the week, Krungthai Bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool predicted.
Poon said that the baht might continue to weaken due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19. However, Poon thought that the baht will not weaken much because the gold price will support the baht if it goes up. Exporters are also waiting to sell the dollar which causes the baht’s resistance level to be from 33.70 to 34.00 to the dollar.
The baht might be volatile as the market is in a risk-off situation might cause foreign investors to sell Thai stocks. Foreign investors also closed the risk after the baht suddenly weakened while foreign investors had sold 18 billion baht of short term bonds last week.
Poon said that the dollar might move sideways if the market is worried about the Covid-19 situation which will support safe-haven assets such as the Japanese Yen. The dollar will be supported if the US employment data is better than expected.
The market is waiting for the signal from US Federal Reserve officials that will affect the dollar’s direction. The dollar will strengthen if the Fed decided to decrease quantitive easing or increase policy interest rate next year.
The price of gold in Thailand on Monday morning was unchanged from Saturdays one-time trading price announcement.
A9.28am report from the Gold Traders Association showed the buying price of gold bar at THB28,550 per baht weight and selling price at THB28,650, while the buying and selling price of gold ornaments is THB28,030.84 and THB29,150, respectively.
The spot gold price on Monday morning was moving around US$1,794 (THB60,475) per ounce after Comex gold at close on Friday rose slightly by $1.2 to $1,785.5 per ounce due to support in buying gold as a safe-haven asset amid concerns about the new variant of Covid-19 virus in South Africa.
Krungsri Securities forecast the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index on Monday (November 29) would fall to between 1,590-1,600 points.
It said the index is currently under pressure due to uncertainty over the latest Omicron Covid-19 variant in Africa and the fresh coronavirus wave in Europe.
It added that the abovementioned negative sentiment also caused the oil price to drop sharply.
“Hence, we advise buying stocks which gained specific positive sentiment,” Krungsri Securities said.
It also recommended buying of the following companies’ shares as an investment strategy:
▪︎ BCH, CHG, MEGA, STA and STGT, which benefit from the Covid-19 crisis.
▪︎ HANA, KCE, TU, ASIAN, NER, EPG and XO, which benefit from the weakening baht.
Karam Hinduja has rather un-Swiss ambitions for the Swiss private bank he took charge of last year.
The 31-year-old grandson of Srichand Hinduja, the patriarch of the $18 billion British-Indian Hinduja Group, says he wants to stay true to his grandfather’s values while trying to remake the bank to attract a more modern, less stuffy clientele. In an interview at the bank’s Geneva headquarters, Karam said he told his employees to be more like the bank’s clients, who may just as likely have made their fortunes as tech entrepreneurs as from finance.
“If your client is in shorts, t-shirt and a pair of flip flops, feel free to do the same, meet them at their level,” the executive said.
Karam has taken over the bank at a difficult juncture for the Hindujas, with a deepening dispute between his ailing 85-year-old grandfather’s side of the family and Srichand’s three younger brothers. It doesn’t help that the bank sits at the heart of the conflict. In a legal battle, Srichand — represented by his daughter Vinoo — is claiming sole ownership of the bank. SP’s brothers say the bank is part of the Hinduja Group.
Karam took charge in early 2020, a year which saw client assets drop by more than 30% from just two years earlier to 1.69 billion Swiss francs ($1.82 billion). The declines were due to drops in asset values not client withdrawals. Total assets under management rebounded to 2.43 billion Swiss francs as of the end of October.
Karam renamed the bank SP Hinduja Banque Privee, although on the Hinduja Group website it is still called Hinduja Bank Switzerland. The executive sometimes fields calls about the family dispute from those who know his grandfather but says it’s more “noise” than anything else and says he’s focused on the charting the bank’s future.
“I’m aware of the dynamics that are occurring at the family level, but I’m here to try and build a fantastic financial institution,” he said in an East Coast accent honed over a decade in New York as an undergraduate at Columbia University and then in venture capital.
While in the U.S., he came close to choosing another career path, spending a year at Nick Bollettieri’s elite tennis academy in Florida in a bid to go pro. That was derailed by a herniated disc and the realization that he wouldn’t make the cut. He’s now back in Europe to take part in the family business.
At the bank, he could not be more different than his predecessor, Gilbert Pfaeffli, a former Swiss Army colonel who’d spent three decades at UBS. Pfaeffli was hired in 2016 in the wake of a pair of bad investments in commodity trading that lost the bank a reported 25 million Swiss francs.
“There was a lack of control, there was a lack of order,” said Karam. Pfaeffli “was the perfect person, with the background he has, to bring in that very military style to the institution.”
The bank was stripped of its Cayman Island banking license in May 2020 for failing to meet anti-money laundering compliance rules. That unit was already being wound down at the time and has since been closed, Karam said. The bank also faces two claims totaling 6 million Swiss francs from unidentified former clients “alleging breaches of the bank’s duties,” according to its annual report.
Karam has brought four people to Geneva from Timeless Media, a digital media company he founded in New York, and a similar number of Srichand’s advisers from London to shake things up.
“I haven’t come from the traditional world of finance,” said Karam, dressed in a black suit and matching black open-necked shirt. “I’ve done dealmaking, I’ve done investing but I haven’t come from the banking grassroots.”
The bank introduced Climate Action Portfolio, a fund focused on alternative energy investments to attract a different kind of investor. Hinduja said he plans more forays into India, where younger entrepreneurs from Indian families who had left the country are now returning.
“Industry is moving in India. Markets are moving. There’s a lot of opportunity,” he said.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,610.61 on Friday, down 37.85 points or 2.30 per cent. Transactions totalled 123.47 billion baht with an index high of 1,640.91 and a low of 1,608.55.
The index dropped for the second day running after falling by 1.36 points or 0.08 per cent on Thursday.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were KBANK, AOT, SCB, CPALL, BANPU, BBL, PTTGC, EA, PTT and TTB.
Other Asian indices were on the fall:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 28,751.62, down 747.66 points or 2.53 per cent.
China’s Shanghai SE Composite closed at 3,564.09, down 20.09 points or 0.56 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component closed at 14,777.17, down 50.78 points or 0.34 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 24,080.52, down 659.64 points or 2.67 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,936.44, down 43.83 points or 1.47 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 17,369.39, down 284.80 points or 1.61 per cent.
The baht opened at 33.43 to the US dollar on Friday, weakening from Thursday’s closing rate of 33.36.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 33.35 and 33.50 to the greenback during the day, Krungthai Bank market strategist Poon Panichpibool predicted.
Poon said that the baht is weakening after the foreign investors had sold 4 billion baht of short term bonds in two days. They cut their loss as the baht might reach the level at 33.50 to the dollar.
Meanwhile, Poon suggested speculating the dollar because it might be sold after the dollar is strengthening and reached the resistance level. The dollar might go down in the short term if there is no new factor to support the dollar. However, the Covid-19 situation might support the dollar in this period.
Poon believed that the baht will reach the key resistance level of 33.45 to 33.50 to the dollar which is the level at which exporters are waiting to sell the dollar and foreign investors are buying the baht. Moreover, the baht might strengthen if the gold price goes up.
The support level of baht will be from 33.10 to 33.20 to the dollar which exporters are buying the dollar.
The price of gold rose by THB100 in morning trade on Friday.
AGold Traders Association report at 9.25am said the buying price of a gold bar was THB28,350 per baht weight and selling price THB28,450, while the buying and selling price of gold ornaments is THB27,833.76 and THB28,950, respectively.
At close on Thursday, the buying price of a gold bar was THB28,250 per baht weight and selling price THB28,350, while gold ornaments were THB27,742.80 and THB28,850, respectively.
The spot gold price on Friday morning hovered around US$1,792 (THB60,126) per ounce after the Comex gold market closed on Thanksgiving yesterday.
Krungsri Securities forecast the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index on Friday (November 26) would fluctuate between 1,640-1,660 points.
It said the index is currently under pressure due to uncertainty over a new Covid-19 variant in Africa, as well as a fresh Covid-19 wave in Europe.
It added that the US Federal Reserve signalling it would raise the interest rate and taper its quantitative easing programme sooner than expected in order to deal with inflation would also pressure the index.
“However, mass-buy ups of stocks which gained specific positive sentiment would help boost the index,” Krungsri Securities said.
It also recommended buying of the following companies’ shares as an investment strategy:
▪︎ BANPU and AGE, which benefit from rising coal price.
▪︎ HANA, KCE, TU, ASIAN, NER, EPG and XO, which benefit from the weakening baht.
▪︎ BBL, TTB, KTB, KBANK and BLA, which would benefit from the rising interest rate.
Pattaya ready for blockbuster yearend events, says mayor
Pattaya ready for blockbuster yearend events, says mayor
Pattaya ready for blockbuster yearend events, says mayor
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