PTT has instructed its US arm to review plans for a chemical plant in Ohio, citing a change in investment conditions.
The company said Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election would result in a change in American trade and investment policies. Meanwhile the Covid-19 pandemic was also affecting consumer behaviour, it added.
The move comes after PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC)’s plan to build a Bt5.7-billion petrochemical-to-plastics plant in Ohio hit a snag in July when joint partner Daelim Industrial of South Korea pulled out.
“The PTTGC Petrochemical Complex has to be reviewed as business conditions are completely changed, said Auttapol Rerkpiboon, president and CEO of PTT’s oil and gas enterprise, on Wednesday.
The review should be complete by the middle of next year, he added.
PTTGC is currently studying plans for US-based petrochemical complexes worth more than Bt200 billion and has postponed its final investment decision from the third quarter this year to next year.
The company is eyeing expansion in the US, which has the world’s lowest petrochemical production costs coupled with rising demand for polymers.
PTT said it remained committed to investing in the international trading business in the US, which can be managed in line with changing conditions.
The company has established PTT International Trading USA (PTTT USA) and has targeted US trade of 30,000 barrels per day.
Lagarde says next stimulus to rely on emergency QE, loans
EconNov 11. 2020Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, is seen on a TV screen speaking during a live stream video of the central bank’s virtual rate decision news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 29, 2020.. MUST CREDTI: Bloomberg photo by Chris Ratcliffe.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Carolynn Look, Piotr Skolimowski · BUSINESS, US-GLOBAL-MARKETS European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said policymakers will focus on emergency bond purchases and long-term loans for their next wave of stimulus, effectively ruling out interest-rate cuts as a way to aid the economy.
“While all options are on the table, the pandemic emergency purchase program and targeted longer-term refinancing operations have proven their effectiveness,” she said. “They are therefore likely to remain the main tools for adjusting our monetary policy.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 extended gains after Lagarde’s comments, and Italian 10-year bond yields extended their decline, signaling optimism that the ECB would increase asset purchases.
The euro area’s economic outlook has darkened considerably in recent weeks as record-breaking coronavirus cases across the region have forced governments to reintroduce restrictions on activity. A stronger-than-expected rebound over the summer months has given way to a possible double-dip recession, and Lagarde warned that any future recovery is likely to be unsteady.
The ECB is widely predicted to increase and extend its 1.35 trillion-euro ($1.6 trillion) pandemic bond-buying program at its meeting in December, and many economists also expect it to make changes to its ultra-cheap credit for banks. Lagarde stressed that the duration of policy support matters as well as the level of financing conditions.
That backs the view of economists that the central bank is likely to stretch emergency purchases by at least six months to the end of 2021, and implement more of its targeted long-term bank loans or lengthen their duration.
The ECB hasn’t lowered its deposit rate, currently at -0.5%, at all during this crisis. Officials are concerned about the adverse consequences of doing so, which would squeeze bank profitability and could eventually deter lending.
Still, cuts aren’t completely off the table. ECB research published this week showed that the deposit rate could fall as low as -1% before it becomes more harmful than beneficial.
“While the latest news on a vaccine looks encouraging, we could still face recurring cycles of accelerating viral spread and tightening restrictions until widespread immunity is achieved,” she said. “The recovery may not be linear, but rather unsteady, stop-start and contingent on the pace of vaccine roll-out.”
Lagarde’s remarks formed part of the ECB’s annual forum, normally held in the Portuguese resort of Sintra and traditionally a venue for strong policy messages from her predecessor Mario Draghi.
“The second wave of covid-19 presents new challenges and risks, but the blueprint for managing it is the same,” Lagarde added. “The ECB was there for the first wave and we will be there for the second wave.”
By The Washington Post · Eva Dou · BUSINESS, WORLD, RETAIL, ASIA-PACIFIC SEOUL, South Korea – Retailers hit hard by the coronavirus have asked China’s consumers to step up, and this week, shoppers took one small step for their wardrobes and one giant leap for economic recovery.
Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reported brisk sales on Wednesday for the country’s annual shopping extravaganza – like Black Friday plus Cyber Monday and more – even though they had to pull out more stops than usual, with an extended sales period and lots of coupons. It’s a promising sign for the global economy, as the world’s No. 2 consumer market rebounds.
Cathy Tu, the 53-year-old owner of an education consulting company in Beijing, said she bought winter clothes for her parents in the online sales. She said that in the wake of the pandemic, she is a little more careful with her spending.
“Before, I might have bought a few extra clothes for myself just because they were on discount,” she said. “This time I bought things for family, and for myself, things that I needed.”
The sales fest, known as Singles Day, will go a long way to help retailers make up for losses earlier in the year – though it won’t get them all the way there, said Becky Han, associate director of China corporate research at Fitch Ratings. She expects China’s consumer market to finish the year with a low-single-digit sales decline.
“Heavy promotions are likely to drive up spending from the mass majority middle-class households whose incomes are more affected by the pandemic,” she said.
The shopping carnival comes as Alibaba grapples with an array of regulatory issues besides the global economic downturn. On Tuesday, Beijing announced it is drawing up an antitrust law to curb the power of Internet giants – a development that caused Alibaba’s stock to plunge as much as 9% on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, financial regulators suspended the IPO plans of Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial services spinoff, in a shock to the industry.
The regulatory scrutiny could mean headaches in coming months for Alibaba. For the moment, though, shoppers like Beijing resident Wang Yajing were enjoying the bargain hunting.
Wang, a 33-year-old documentary film maker, said she and many of her friends waited up past midnight to snag deals in the first minutes of Wednesday.
“You can put the stuff in your cart in advance, but you have to wait until after midnight to get the discounts,” she said. “I didn’t want to wake up the next morning to find they’d sold out.”
Wang said she ordered dried walnuts and other food for her mother, and household goods like laundry detergent for herself.
Singles Day – so named because the date 11/11 resembles four singles – originated in China as a tongue-in-cheek celebration by young people of their single status. Since 2009, Alibaba has turned the day into a shopping extravaganza, with celebrity appearances (Katy Perry made a virtual appearance this year) and discounts on everything from flat-screen TVs to houses.
In this year’s Singles Day, Alibaba spotlighted several Western brands hoping for China sales to help them through the downturn. These included French luxury goods house Cartier and Grand Rapids, Mich.-based vacuum cleaner brand Bissell Homecare.
Duncan Clark, chairman of consulting firm BDA China, said the brisk Singles Day sales broadly reflected China’s economic recovery, which has been faster than in the United States and Europe.
“They’re talking about therapeutics in the West, but we are talking about retail therapy here,” said Clark, who lives in Beijing.
China’s e-commerce companies also took extra pains this year to ensure they could declare a successful Singles Day. Alibaba began Singles Day sales early on Nov. 1, stretching out the occasion into a week and a half of promotions, and making it difficult to compare directly with last year’s performance.
Alibaba vice president Liu Bo said at a news conference last month that the company was spending more on Singles Day this year than ever, with a whopping 4 billion yuan ($606 million) in cash vouchers for shoppers. Alibaba said Wednesday it had racked up $56 billion and counting in gross merchandise volume through this month’s promotions, with Apple, Nike and L’Oréal among the sales standouts.
Alibaba and JD.com have tried to draw consumers’ interest with live-streamed sales pitches and mobile games. From Alibaba, shoppers could earn coupons by watering a virtual plant or petting a cat, while JD.com shoppers could get discounts by feeding a virtual puppy on their phones.
Liu Hui, chief data officer of JD.com’s big data research institute, said in an interview Tuesday that the company has seen strong sales in health and wellness products this Singles Day, possibly an effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Sales of health supplements and treadmills rose this year from last.
“China’s consumers are more health-conscious now,” he said.
Ouyang Haotian, a 21-year-old college senior in Guangzhou, said he isn’t a big online shopper, but he joined in on Singles Day to buy an electric toothbrush.
“It was something I needed anyway, so I might as well get it on sale,” he said.
Finance Minister orders tax overhaul to boost post-Covid economy
EconNov 11. 2020Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith
By The Nation
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith has instructed state tax collection agencies to jointly seek ways of overhauling the system to ensure fair treatment of all taxpayers.
The change is also aimed at boosting the country’s competitiveness and wooing foreign investment in the post-Covid era.
A new tax will be introduced for e-commerce and e-businesses, he added.
State tax agencies will also have to consider changes that encourage companies to help solve environmental problems such as PM2.5 pollution.
He also asked the Revenue Department to seek ways to expand the tax base to those currently outside the tax system.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,345.34 on Wednesday, up 4.10 points or 0.31 per cent. Total transactions amounted to Bt117.15 billion with an index high of 1,356.83 and a low of 1,331.39.
In the morning session, an analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the day’s index to rise to between 1,350 and 1,360 points over positive news of Covid-19 vaccine development, hopes for global trade recovery and the rising oil price.
“However, investors should beware of market volatility from signs of overbought stocks,” he said.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were KBANK, AOT, PTT, STGT, CPALL, MINT, BBL, SCB, GPSC, and SCC.
As of 4.30pm, the price of oil rose by US$1.09 or 2.64 per cent to $42.45 per barrel, while gold dropped by $1.40 or 0.07 per cent, to $1,875 per ounce.
Other Asian indices were mixed:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 25,349.60, up 444.01 points or 1.78 per cent.
China’s Shang Hai SE Composite Index closed at 3,342.20, down 17.95 points or 0.53 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 13,720.17, down 273.16 points or 1.95 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 26,226.98, down 74.50 points or 0.28 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,485.87, up 33.04 points or 1.35 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 13,262.19, up 180.47 points or 1.38 per cent.
As many as 11 Thai stocks were listed in the MSCI Global Standard and MSCI Global Small Cap Indices, Asia Plus Securities said on Wednesday.
The securities company said Sri Trang Gloves (STGT) and Delta Electronics (DELTA) were listed in the MSCI Global Standard Index, while TMB Bank (TMB) was delisted.
In MSCI Global Small Cap Index, Banpu Power (BPP), Ichitan Group (ICHI), Jay Mart (JMART), MK Restaurant Group (M), R&B Food Supply (RBF), Thaifoods Group (TFG), Tisco Bank (TISCO), VGI and IRPC were listed, while STP&I (STPI) and Ratchthani Leasing (THANI) were delisted.
“Normally, the price of stocks listed in MSCI Global Standard Index rise by 4 to 5 per cent, while the price of stocks listed in MSCI Global Small Cap Index rise by 2 to 3 per cent,” the securities company said.
The firm went on to say it expects stocks listed in the MSCI Indices to be attractive to foreign investors after they began buying back Thai stocks from Tuesday.
“As an investment strategy, we advise investors to buy TISCO, VGI and CRC as they will benefit from positive news of Covid-19 vaccine development, as well as MINT as its price is still lower than theoretical price,” the securities company said.
The securities company added that MSCI has moved Kuwait stock index from MSCI Frontier Market to MSCI Emerging Market as well.
The Finance Ministry is considering launching a second phase of the “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves) subsidised-shopping scheme early next year as a “New Year gift” to consumers, said minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith on Wednesday.
The scheme, which currently runs from October 23 to December 31, offers about 10 million citizens discounts of up to Bt150 per day on purchases at participating stores, capped at Bt3,000 throughout the period.
Arkhom said that the ministry is also mulling whether to raise the subsidy from Bt150 per day.
All details would be finalised next month, he added.
He insisted that the government has enough budget to finance the scheme. He said the money will come from the Bt400 billion earmarked to aid the grassroots economy, which is part of the Bt1 trillion in borrowing to aid recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
The price of tourism-related stocks on Tuesday rose sharply after Pfizer and BioNTech announced their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective and they would register the vaccine with the US Food and Drug Administration next week.
The stock price of Minor International (Mint) rose by 26.23 per cent, or Bt4.80, to Bt23.10 per share, Asset World Corporation (AWC) increased by 20 per cent, or Bt0.68, to Bt4.08 per share and Airports of Thailand (AOT) was up by 18.34 per cent, or Bt10.50, to Bt67.75 per share.
CGS CIMB Securities senior vice president of research Kitichan Sirisukarcha said stocks related to tourism, hotels, airlines, commercial banks and oil gained positive sentiment from the progress of a Covid-19 vaccine.
“However, we advise investors buying shares that prices are still lower than the base and business turnover will improve because the price of these stocks may face correction in the short term after rising sharply yesterday [on Tuesday],” he said.
He recommended buying Mint as the group’s business turnover is expected to rise sharply if many countries are able to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Thaioil (Top) and Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) as fuel demand is expected to increase, and Central Retail Corporation (CRC) and Central Pattana (CPN) as these would benefit from tourist spending.
Kasikorn Securities senior vice-president Sorrabhol Virameteekul said stocks related to transport, construction and media also gained positive sentiment from progress in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
For investors who can tolerate risks, he advised buying construction, media and financial stocks as they can escape the impact of the political unrest and their prices were cheap, such as Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM) at Bt10.60 per share, JMT Network Services (JMT) at Bt39 per share, Muangthai Capital (MTC) at Bt64.5 per share, CH Karnchang (CK) at Bt29.60 per share and Tisco Bank (TISCO) at Bt84 per share.
Yuanta Securities (Thailand) strategist Natapon Khamthakrue said Thai stocks have responded to the positive news of a Covid-19 vaccine faster than expected.
He advised investors making selective buys in stocks that prices would rise, such as Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS) at Bt24.30 per share, Ekachai Medical Care (EKH) at Bt4.90 per share, Central Plaza Hotel (Centel) at Bt29.30 per share and Kasikorn Bank (KBank) at Bt100.50 per share.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index rose by 3.88 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 1,345.12 in the morning session on Wednesday.
An analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the day’s index to rise to between 1,350 and 1,360 points from positive news of Covid-19 vaccine development, hopes for a global trade recovery and the rising oil price.
“However, investors should beware of market volatility from the overbought signal,” he said.
He recommended investors buy:
> AOT, Mint, Centel, IVL, PTTGC, Top, KBank, SCB and BBL that benefit from positive news of a Covid-19 vaccine.
> STGT, STA, EPG, Com7, Synex, Hana, SVI and TVO, whose third-quarter performance is expected to improve.
The SET Index closed at 1,341.24 on Tuesday, up 55.36 points, or 4.31 per cent. The volume of total transactions was Bt166.67 billion, with an index high of 1,346.72 points and a low of 1,313.04.
The price of gold dropped by Bt150 per baht weight in morning trade on Wednesday, the Gold Traders Association reported.
As of 9.29am, the buying price of a gold bar was Bt26,900 per baht weight and selling price Bt27,000, while gold ornaments cost Bt26,408 and Bt27,500, respectively.
At close on Tuesday, the buying price of a gold bar was Bt27,050 per baht weight and selling price Bt27,150, while gold ornaments cost Bt26,560.32 and Bt27,650, respectively.
The spot gold price moved to US$1,879 (Bt56,796) per ounce in the morning after the price rose by $22 to $1,876.4 per ounce at Tuesday’s close, thanks to mass buy-ups in the precious metal after its price dropped almost $100 at Monday’s close due to mass sell-offs of the safe-haven asset in response to the good progress in developing a Covid-19 vaccine.
The Hong Kong gold price meanwhile dropped by HK$60 to $17,380 (Bt67,753) per tael, the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society reported.
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, is seen on a TV screen speaking during a live stream video of the central bank’s virtual rate decision news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 29, 2020.. MUST CREDTI: Bloomberg photo by Chris Ratcliffe. 
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith 
Arkhom Termpittayapaisith 
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