The Federal Reserve (Fed) kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50 percent for the eighth consecutive meeting in July, as widely expected. Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the US central bank will pivot in September’s meeting.
However, weak job reports in July, released after Fed’s July meeting, led the market to perceive that September’s potential rate cut could be a slow-footed response from the Fed. This triggered a global stock market sell-off led by Wall Street and Japan.
Amid the market turbulence, investors are recommended to accumulate stocks with appropriate valuation and limited exposure to the potential impacts of recession. Signs of capital inflows to the regional stock market have emerged.
Key highlights for July
– At the end of July 2024, SET Index rose 1.5 percent from the previous month but fell 6.7 percent from the end of 2023 to close at 1,320.86 points. Investors are awaiting a clearer picture of the government’s economic stimulus measures and assessing the impact of market confidence-boosting measures implemented in July 2024.
– For the seven months to July, industry groups that outpaced SET Index were Technology, Agro & Food Industry, Consumer Products and Services.
– For the January-to-July period, SET’s and mai’s average daily trading value declined 22.3 percent over the same period last year to THB 44.16 billion (approx. USD 1.25 billion) Foreign investors sold Thai shares with a net THB 117.56 billion over the period as their trading ratio remained the highest among other types of investors for 27 consecutive months.
– In July 2024, two newly listed companies on SET were Foods Moment pcl (FM) and Chaosua Foods Industry pcl (CHAO), and a newly listed on mai was Nice Call pcl (NCP).
– The Thai stock exchange’s forward P/E ratio at the end of July 2024 was 14.3 times, above the Asian stock markets’ average of 12.5 times. The historical P/E ratio stood at 16.0 times, exceeding the Asian stock markets’ average of 15.1 times.
– Dividend yield ratio at the end of July 2024 was 3.53 percent, higher than the Asian stock markets’ average of 3.17 percent.
Source : SET News : (Correction) SET News: SET market report for July 2024 – The Stock Exchange of Thailand
