The SET sectors making up the index are: Agribusiness, Commerce, Fashion, Food and Beverage, Health Care Service, Tourism and Leisure, and Transportation and Logistics.

SET senior executive vice president Rinjai Chakornpipat said on Monday that the SETWB would reflect the performance of highly competitive securities which are instrumental to gross-domestic-product, generating wealth to Thais and the country.

The new index is expected to encourage the development of new products tracking the SETWB, such as exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.

The index is scheduled to launch on April 1, and to be reviewed every six months.

The top 30 stocks that are qualified and have that highest market capitalisation will be used in the calculation of the SETWB, while those stocks ranking 31st to 35th by market value will be placed on a reserve list, Rinjai said.

In addition, the SET will cap the maximum weight of each constituent in the SETWB to 10 per cent in each quarter.

The calculation for the first set of the SETWB Index will be based on information during the 12-month period from December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018, the bourse executive added.

However, the centre believes that the committee will increase the policy interest rate once the country’s economic environment changes.

The Government Savings Bank, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Bank and Krungthai Bank had also approved loans for start-ups worth Bt1.42 billion by February 28, Pornchai Theeravet, financial adviser at the Fiscal Policy Office and acting deputy spokesman of the ministry, said after a meeting of the committee.

Some 144 small and medium-sized enterprises and new start-ups have also had tax incentives approved by the National Science and Technology Development Agency, he added.

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat is improving its data, modelling and information systems to provide enhanced and timely information to the public and the MRC member countries — Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam — according to the secretariat’s top management.

“Our primary goal is to provide faster reactions to address emerging changes such as climate change or sudden water release from reservoirs in the Lancang-Mekong river basin, track basin state and development, and strengthen one of the MRC’s key roles as the regional knowledge hub,” MRC Secretariat chief executive officer An Pich Hatda said on Monday.

This was driven by relatively strong performance in regard to new indicators added to the index and an improvement in the “effective border measures” indicators, according to the chamber’s “Inspiring Tomorrow” report, issued on Monday.

The GIPC 2019 IP Index was recently released to benchmark the intellectual-property system in 50 global economies, including 15 in Asia.

The ranking is based on eight categories of indicators that are critical to an innovation-led economy supported by robust patent, trademark, copyright and trade-secrets protection.

Foreign investors have sold US$860 million worth of Asean equities month-to-date but Vietnamese, Philippine and Indonesian stocks have largely been unaffected by the sell-off.

Year-to-date, foreign investors were net buyers in Indonesia ($658 million), the Philippines ($489 million), and Vietnam ($186m). On the other hand, they were the sellers of Thai and Malysian shares – $266 million and $323 million respectively, since the beginning of this year.

The massive inflows of capital in January cooled down in February and outflows were seen in early March. We believe the January inflows were caused by portfolio adjustments in the wake of the US Fed signalling a pause in rate hikes, a positive factor for emerging markets.

Investors have been more selective as we noticed that countries still in net-buy position had shown superior growth.

DBS forecast a 6.6 per cent GDP growth for Vietnam this year, 6.5 per cent for Philippines and 5.2 per cent for Indonesia.

At the same time, economic growth in Malaysia is estimated at 4.5 per cent this year and 3.8 per cent for Thailand. Apparently, foreign investors have turned to countries posting superior growth, given the economic slowdown in most parts of the world.

While we expect the market to remain sluggish in the near term, we see a dash of optimism for Thai stocks with the MSCI’s inclusion of Non-Voting Depositary Receipts into its emerging markers index by the end of this month.

Thanawat Patchimkul

Head of Research

DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand)

US signals, data to show the way

The US Fed is expected to signal a hold on funds rate for the first half of this year and will likely keep the current level of 2.25-2.50 per cent at its meeting tomorrow and Wednesday, the second of this year, given the risks to US economic growth, which may slow with low inflation this year.

At the same time, the Fed’s QT programme will be clearer soon.

We expect the US economy to show signs of a slowdown in the first quarter as the US-China trade war has yet to ease.

Earlier, the Fed cut its forecast for this year’s economic growth from 2.5 per cent to 2.3 per cent as US price pressure is likely to stay low. The US consumer price index (CPI) in February increased 1.5 per cent year on year, below market expectation of 1.6 per cent.

The US core CPI in February, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 2.1 per cent year on year, lower than the market expectation of 2.2 per cent.

It is now possible for the Fed to revise down its estimated rate hikes from two to one this year and in such case, the US dollar may not appreciate further.

A clearer picture on Brexit is also expected this week, which could lead to a rebound of the euro. Given the expectations, forฌeign capital may return to stocks in emerging markets again.

Saravut Tachochavalit

Senior Vice President/Research

RHB Securities (Thailand)