The Baht weakened later in the week while the SET dropped before a long holiday

• The SET rose over-week but closed below 1,400 points before the Songkran festival.

         The SET surged early to mid-week and hit nearly a 3-month high at 1,411.46 points amid net buying position of foreign investors. The SET was also boosted by news regarding the government’s economic stimulus measures, which drove the purchases of real estate and retail stocks that were expected to directly benefit from such measures.

         However, the SET pared gains somewhat later, as most Asian stock markets dropped amid concerns that the Fed may hold interest rates higher for longer after the US CPI for March came out higher than t expected. In addition, the SET faced sell-offs for position adjustment before a long holiday for the Songkran festival. Nonetheless, banking stocks surged in contrary to other sectors, as the Thai central bank held policy rate steady at its latest meeting.

         On Thursday, April 11, 2024, the SET closed at 1,396.38 points, up 1.51% over-week. The average daily trading value was THB45,261.32 million, up 36.99% over-week. The mai closed at 400.08 points, up 1.35% over-week.

• April 17-19, 2024, KSecurities expects the SET to have support at 1,385 and 1,375 points, but resistance at 1,405 and 1,415 points, respectively. KResearch views that key matter to watch include foreign fund flows. The US economic data that warrant close monitoring include March Retail Sales, Housing Starts, Industrial Production, Existing Home Sales, plus Weekly Jobless Claims. Close attention must also be paid to March CPI of Japan, Eurozone and UK, plus China’s GDP report for 1Q-24 and March economic data such as Retail Sales, Industrial Production and Fixed Asset Investment.