SET starts the year on upbeat note

The Thai stock market had a bullish start to 2022 thanks to positive global market sentiment and foreign capital inflows to the Thai banking and energy sectors after concerns over Omicron eased.

The SET Index rose 12.66 points to close at 1,670.28 yesterday in trade worth 100 billion baht.

An analyst from Asia Plus Securities who requested anonymity said the major risk factor investors must monitor is the local pandemic situation and government measures to curb the daily infection rate, which is likely to accelerate in many provinces.

A flare-up of the pandemic prompted a negative impact on stocks related to tourism such as airlines and hotels.

However, the analyst said Omicron’s impact on the stock market will be limited because stocks that will be heavily affected contribute a smaller proportion of profits and market cap.

In addition to Omicron, another factor to watch is whether the Opec Plus meeting signals an increase in oil production of 400,000 barrels per day as originally planned, said the analyst.

The analyst recommended investing in large-cap stocks with strong fundamentals such as Kasikornbank, Charoen Pokphand Foods and Sino

Thai Engineering, as well as stocks in construction that benefit from investment stimulus measures.

Apple Inc became the first American company to reach a US$3 trillion market capitalisation yesterday as investors are confident the iPhone maker will continue to roll out its best-selling products as it expands into other areas such as self-driving cars and metaverse technology.

Reuters reported for the first trading day of 2022, Apple’s share price hit a new high of $182.88 during the day, taking the company’s total implicit value to a new high.

Apple’s market capitalisation surpassed leading US technology companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet, which owns Google, at $2.53 trillion and more than $1 trillion, respectively.

According to CounterPoint Research, Apple’s success comes from accelerating the development of products compatible with 5G technology. It also seized market leadership in China in the smartphone category for the second consecutive month over local competitors.

Omicron’s impact on the stock market will be limited because stocks that will be heavily affected contribute a smaller proportion of profits and market cap. ANALYST Asia Plus Securities