The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has permitted WHA Premium Growth Real Estate Investment Trust (WHART) to raise capital for a sixth time for its Bt3.23-billion built-to-suit project.
Anuwat Jarukornsakul, CEO and manager of WHART, said the project will enhance property potential in the Eastern Economic Corridor as the centre of logistics in Thailand, and expects to offer investment units within this year.
“WHART will invest in a built-to-suit project consisting of approximately 128,789 square metres of buildings for rent and approximately 3,055 square metres of parking spaces for rent on about 120 rai,” he said.
He said WHART has stable cash flow because tenants in long-term rental agreements with REIT were large multinational companies in various industries.
Various domestic and international negative factors would pressure the baht and stock market next week, experts said.
The baht weakened against the dollar this week (September 21-25), as domestic and international factors caused uncertainty among investors.
An analyst at CIMB Thai Bank expected the baht next week to move between 31.30 and Bt31.80 against the dollar.
“Next week, the Bank of Thailand will report the country’s economic indicators in August, while there are many factors that investors will need to follow, such as the Covid-19 situation that has not been resolved, US politics with the presidential election approaching, and trade negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union,” the analyst said.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index on Friday (September 25) closed at 1,244.94, down 2.52 points or 0.20 per cent, while total transactions amounted to Bt45.62 billion.
An analyst at Kasikorn Securities expected the index next week to move between 1,238 and 1,280 due to lack of new positive sentiment both domestic and international.
“Meanwhile, the index would be under pressure from the delay in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine and commercial banks’ third-quarter performance,” the analyst said.
Gold price on Saturday was quoted at US$1,860.50 per ounce, while the price in Thailand was Bt27,850 per baht weight.
An analyst at YLG Bullion International advised investors to beware of mass sell-offs if the price cannot rise over the resistance line between $1,876 and $1,890 per ounce.
“Investors can sell some of the metal to reduce risk and buy back when the price drops to the support line between $1,847 per ounce,” the analyst said.
The price of gold dropped by Bt100 per baht weight in morning trade on Saturday (September 26), the Gold Traders Association reported.
At 9.06am, the buying price of a gold bar was Bt27,750 per baht weight and selling price Bt27,850 while gold ornaments were priced at Bt27,257.68 and Bt28,350, respectively.
At close on Friday, the buying price of a gold bar was Bt27,850 per baht weight and selling price Bt27,950 while gold ornaments were Bt27,348.64 and Bt28,450, respectively.
Comex (Commodity Exchange) gold price to be delivered in December dropped by US$10.6, or 0.56 per cent, closing at $1,866.3 (Bt58,999.64) per ounce on Friday.
Gold closed in negative territory due to the strengthening of the dollar, which made the metal price high for investors holding other currencies.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Andres Guerra Luz, Alex Longley
Oil fell as growing concerns over another wave of the coronavirus pandemic weighs on the outlook for demand.
Futures dropped as much as 1.5% in New York on Friday and are set for a nearly 3% weekly decline. The U.K. added London to its watch list of potential pandemic hot spots, compounding worries Europe may face tighter restrictions as cases surge across the continent. At the same time, the market is contending with returning supply. Oil traders have reported a sharp increase in Iraqi exports for next month, while output from Libya has shown signs of rising this week.
The spreading coronavirus “is really the key weight on this market,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC. With flare-ups in Europe and parts of the U.S., “none of it’s good for the oil market and the demand outlook.”
Still, oil’s weekly loss has been stemmed by the prospect of resuming stimulus talks in the U.S. and a more optimistic demand view from some analysts. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said oil consumption is currently just above 93 million barrels a day and may rise 1.8 million a day to the end of the year. That said, a virus surge in the U.K. and France is deepening short-term risks.
“This month has not been kind to the oil market,” said PVM Oil Associates analyst Stephen Brennock. “Economic growth anxieties are likely to persist, which in turn will keep oil prices under the cosh.”
On the supply side, OPEC has allowed Iraq to pump more crude next month by giving it extra time to make up for breaching its quota this year. But the puzzle for the market is whether an increase in cargoes means Iraq could exceed its new limit of 3.6 million barrels a day.
In a sign of just how damaging the virus has been to oil demand, the industry’s largest tankers next year will earn 8% less than they were anticipating back in May, according to a survey of shipping analysts by Bloomberg. That comes as nations including Saudi Arabia and Russia have drastically scaled back output, draining the hoard at sea and diminishing the flow of cargoes.
There have also been market signals of growing weakness in the global Brent benchmark this week. On Thursday, the crude traded at its smallest premium to U.S. WTI since May. It’s also at its weakest to the Middle Eastern Dubai benchmark in four months.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Rita Nazareth, Claire Ballentine
Stocks climbed as dip buyers appeared after the market slide, tempering a cloudy outlook for a U.S. stimulus package.
Tech companies led gains in the S&P 500, with the Nasdaq 100 jumping 2.3%. Real-estate, industrial and consumer-discretionary shares rose more than 1.4%, while energy producers almost erased losses. Boeing surged on a news report the top U.S. aviation regulator plans to test-fly the grounded 737 Max on Wednesday. Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises rallied after being upgraded at Barclays, which said the “worst is in the past” for cruise companies. The benchmark gauge still posted its fourth straight weekly drop — the longest streak since August 2019. The dollar advanced.
Equities fell earlier Friday as a last-ditch attempt by Democrats and the White House to restart negotiations on new stimulus drew skepticism in Congress that a deal could be reached and written into law by the November election. There’s a perception that the two sides still remain far apart on the size of a relief package. Amid mounting signs that the pace of recovery will ebb with an uptick in global coronavirus cases and lack of further government aid, investors have once again turned back to the companies flush with cash and tested in times of crisis.
“If I were to be unsure about a stimulus package, unsure about whether there will be a vaccine, there’s no better thing than to hide out in the megacap tech stocks because they work in an economy-closed scenario,” said Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
– The S&P 500 increased 1.6% at 4 p.m. EDT.
– The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1%.
– The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.4%.
Currencies
– The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.3%.
– The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.1625.
– The Japanese yen depreciated 0.2% to 105.61 per dollar.
Bonds
– The yield on 10-year Treasurys decreased one basis point to 0.65%.
– Britain’s 10-year yield fell three basis points to 0.189%.
– Germany’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to -0.53%.
Commodities
– West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 0.5% to $40.12 a barrel.
AirAsia became the only budget airline to fly from both Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports in Bangkok when it announced four new routes connecting the capital to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Krabi and Surat Thani on Friday (September 26).
As of Friday, there will be five daily flights from Suvarnabhumi to Chiang Mai, three daily flights to Phuket and two daily to Krabi and Surat Thani.
Apart from ramping up its domestic service in Thailand, AirAsia has also expressed readiness to resume international connections in the near future to cater for both business and leisure travellers once conditions improve and restrictions are lifted.
Santisuk Klongchaiya, AirAsia Thailand’s chief executive officer, said: “While the overall tourism industry is slowly recovering, we are proud to announce additional service from Suvarnabhumi Airport apart from existing flights from Don Mueang Airport. We are very pleased with the response thus far with load factors averaging over 70 per cent for all the four new routes, signifying a great start and healthy future growth for us at Suvarnabhumi.
“Suvarnabhumi is a great airport and one that is familiar to us, as we used to operate from there as well. The utilisation of both airports in Bangkok will not only benefit guests with more choices for easy and low-cost connections, but also the economy as a whole especially when the Covid-19 situation improves and Thailand is ready to welcome international visitors once again.”
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index continued its week-long slide on Friday, closing at 1,244.94, down 2.52 points or 0.20 per cent. Total transactions amounted to Bt45.62 billion with an index high of 1,256.40 and a low of 1,241.66.
In the morning session, an analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the day’s index to fluctuate between 1,240 and 1,255 despite a rise in other regional stock markets.
Domestic unrest after Parliament delayed charter-change motions, coupled with continuing outflow of foreign funds, would pressure the index, he said.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were AOT, CPF, MINT, PTT, STGT, KBANK, CPALL, STA, PTTEP and GPSC.
As of 4.30pm, the price of oil rose by US$0.19 or 0.47 per cent to $40.50 per barrel, while gold dropped by $2.50 or 0.13 per cent, to $1,874.40 per ounce.
Other Asian indices were mixed:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 23,204.62, up 116.80 points or 0.51 per cent.
China’s Shang Hai SE Composite Index closed at 3,219.42, down 3.76 points or 0.12 per cent, while the Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 12,814.17, down 2.43 points or 0.019 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 23,235.42, down 75.65 points or 0.32 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,278.79, up 6.09 points or 0.27 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 12,232.91, down 31.47 points or 0.26 per cent.
PTT Plc has set aside a budget of Bt18 million to subsidise local holidays for its staff as part of a move to boost the country’s flagging tourism sector, said president and CEO Auttapol Rerkpiboon.
PTT will subsidise 50 per cent of domestic trips for 3,800 staff, capped at Bt5,000 per person.
Staff must show receipts for accommodation, food and travel tickets to get the subsidy. The programme runs from next month until December.
Companies in PTT group will launch similar programmes soon, added Auttappol.
The tourism industry, a key engine of Thailand’s economy, is suffering severe impacts from the lack of foreign arrivals due to the Covid-19 travel ban.
Gold price faces short term correction but has the chance of hitting US$2,000 again at the end of this year, an expert at YLG Bullion International (YLG) said on Friday (September 25).
The price of the precious metal dropped by over $100 per ounce from $1,950 to $1,850 over four days from Monday.
Pawan Navawattanasap, YLG’s chief executive officer, said the price of gold had dropped sharply at the beginning of this week due to investors’ mass sell-offs to take profits after several mutual funds boosted their investment in the precious metal.
She said the price at the beginning of this year was $1,517 per ounce and hit the highest at $2,075 per ounce, generating profits of over 22.5 per cent, which is higher than returns from other assets.
“Normally, investors know that the price of gold rises when stock prices fall, but this year it is completely different because mutual funds increased their investment in the precious metal. This caused mass sell-offs in gold because mutual funds often take profit from the metal to compensate for the fall in stock price,” she said.
She added that many analysts expected the gold price to hit $2,000 per ounce by the fourth quarter of this year as demand for the precious metal in India and China often rises during this time, adding that the price of gold is expected to hit $2,200 per ounce next year.
“Factors that boost the price of gold are central banks’ relaxed monetary policies, governments’ moves to stimulate the economy and the US-China conflict, while factors that pressure the metal price are Covid-19 vaccine development progress, signs of the US economic recovery and mass sell-offs to compensate for loss in other assets,” she added.
An analyst at Asia Plus Securities expects institutional investors to sell stocks worth Bt23 billion to buy SCG Packaging (SCGP) shares, resulting in market volatility.
SCGP will make an initial public offering (IPO) of up to Bt1.12 billion with shares priced between Bt33.50 and Bt35 from September 28 to October 7. Meanwhile, cornerstone investors and initial purchasers will make payments for buying shares from October 9 to 14.
The analyst reckoned that institutional investors will sell off their stocks before SCGP is listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). The 18 institutional investors, comprising 14 Thai asset management companies and four overseas asset management companies, have the right to subscribe to 676.53 million shares worth Bt23.7 billion.
“According to previous statistics, SET50 will fall up to 6 per cent in one month before large-cap stocks start making transactions in the stock market, while the price of stocks in the same group will drop by up to 10 per cent,” he said.
“Over the past three days, the largest petrochemical stock price dropped sharply after SCGP announced it was selling IPO shares.”
Since SCGP is a large-cap stock with a market capitalisation of around Bt150 billion and has the chance of being listed in SET50 or SET100 instantly, the analyst expects Thanachart Capital (TACP) with a market capitalisation of Bt35 billion to be delisted from SET50 or the Erawan Group (ERW) with a market capitalisation of Bt80 billion delisted from SET100.
“The securities company expects SCGP’s revenue this year to be at Bt6.99 billion, up 32.8 per cent year on year, while the company’s profit is expected to be Bt8.33 billion, up 19.1 per cent year on year,” he added.
