Deputy PM Ekniti Nitithanprapas highlighted TikTok’s long-term investment plans in Thailand, valued at over 270 billion baht, focusing on digital infrastructure, SME support, and positioning Thailand as a regional content hub.

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Key Points

• Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas highlighted Thailand’s participation in the World Economic Forum 2026, enhancing investor confidence, particularly with TikTok’s long-term investment plans exceeding 270 billion baht.
• Discussions in Davos between Ekniti and TikTok executives focused on digital infrastructure investments, support for the digital and AI economy, and opportunities for Thai entrepreneurs on the platform.
• TikTok aims to position Thailand as a regional hub for content development and improve market access for small and medium-sized enterprises while also cooperating on consumer protection and financial literacy initiatives.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas said Thailand’s participation in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos helped sustain investor confidence, with TikTok confirming plans for long-term investment in the country.

Ekniti said he and the Board of Investment’s secretary-general met TikTok executives in Davos to discuss the company’s operations and future direction in Thailand. The talks covered digital infrastructure investment, support for the digital and AI economy, and expanded opportunities for Thai entrepreneurs using the platform.

TikTok confirmed long-term investment plans in Thailand valued at more than 270 billion baht and outlined proposals to support small and medium-sized enterprises by improving market access and income generation. The company also discussed positioning Thailand as a regional base for content development and related digital services.

Operated by ByteDance, TikTok has a large global and ASEAN user base and established its Thai subsidiary in 2021 as a regional operating office under BOI promotion. It later received approval for major data hosting operations to support regional services. Discussions also covered cooperation on consumer protection, financial literacy, and online fraud prevention, as well as preparations linked to Thailand’s hosting of the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings this year.

Source : TikTok Confirms Long-Term Investment in Thailand

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Mumbai: The National Housing Bank (NHB) managing director, Sanjay Shukla, had urged large home financiers to reduce prime lending rates during a call with their decision-makers about a fortnight ago, executives aware of the discussions told ET. But the mortgage lenders have deferred lending rate cuts until their internal benchmarks, due for annual reviews, are reset in April.

“In the call with us, the NHB chairman put considerable pressure on the ecosystem to transmit lower rates to end customers, as they believe the benefit of reduced borrowing costs has not been passed on to existing borrowers,” said the chief executive of a large housing finance company (HFC). “The NHB’s view is that while HFCs are raising funds at significantly lower rates-from the market, banks and NHB refinance schemes-they continue to charge relatively higher rates to existing borrowers.”

HFCs collectively own about a fifth of India’s mortgage lending market, now dominated by mainstream banks.

Traditionally, HFCs maintain high prime lending rates (PLR) but offer steep discounts to customers. For instance, while LIC Housing Finance‘s home loan rates currently start at 7.15%, its PLR is around 17%. HFC lending rates typically factor in the cost of borrowing, risk premium, operating costs and profit margins.

NHB has flagged that despite a cumulative 125 basis point reduction in the central bank repo rate over the past year to 5.25% and NHB refinance rates near 7%, the sharp fall in funding costs has not been adequately transmitted to existing borrowers.

“Several HFCs have argued that there will be a more meaningful downward movement in lending rates once the MCLR reset happens in April,” said the CEO of another housing finance company.
That said, some lenders have begun responding to the NHB’s nudge. Aadhar Housing Finance cut its retail prime lending rate by 15 basis points to 17.50% from 17.65%, effective February 10, 2026. Aavas Financiers also announced a 15-basis-point reduction in its PLR to 17.80%, effective March 1, 2026.While the central bank became the primary regulator of HFCs in 2019, the NHB continues to play a significant role as a supervisory and developmental institution. It conducts on-site inspections of HFCs and serves as a key refinance provider, giving it considerable influence over the sector.

As of end-March 2025, outstanding loans and advances of HFCs stood at ₹9.59 lakh crore, marginally lower than ₹9.61 lakh crore a year earlier, central bank data showed.

The share of HFCs in total housing credit-across banks, HFCs and NBFCs-declined to 18.8% at end-March 2025, partly due to the conversion of two HFCs into NBFCs. Housing loans accounted for 73.8% of the total credit extended by HFCs at the end of March 2025.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose solidly after a shaky start on Monday, as technology ⁠stocks found their footing following last week’s AI-sparked selloff, while investors waited for key economic data that could shed light on the Federal Reserve‘s interest-rate path.

While the Dow notched its second closing record in a row with a small gain, the S&P 500 ultimately finished short of its closing record.

The S&P 500 technology sector finished up 1.6% to extend Friday’s gains after a steep selloff last week. The S&P 500 Software ‌Services index ended up ‌2.9% as it clawed back some losses for a second day after a bruising seven days of losses fueled by fears that AI could intensify competition.

One big gainer in software was Oracle, which added 9.6% after D.A. Davidson upgraded it ‌to a “buy” recommendation from “neutral.”

Along with the upgrade, Keith Lerner, chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services, said another support for technology stocks came from comments CNBC attributed to Sam Altman, the CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI.

Altman told employees that the startup’s artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, was back to exceeding 10% monthly growth, according to CNBC’s report which Reuters could not independently verify.
“You’ve a sharply oversold market where a little bit of good news can go a long way,” said Lerner, adding that “the rubber band was stretched too far for tech and software” in last ​week’s selloff.While the software index was still almost 13% below its trading levels just before the exodus that started in ​late January, the broader tech sector was less than 3% under its pre-selloff levels.

After surpassing 50,000 points for the first time on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial ‌Average rose 20.20 points, or ‍0.04%, to 50,135.87. The S&P 500 gained 32.52 points, or 0.47%, to 6,964.82 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 207.46 points, or 0.90%, to ‍23,238.67.

The Nasdaq finished 3% below its latest record closing high, reached in November, while the S&P 500 ‌was just out of reach of its last record close of 6978.60 reached on January 27.

The materials index, up 1.4%, showed the second biggest advance among the S&P 500’s 11 major industry indexes, as a rally in gold and silver boosted miners.

The consumer staples sector, which had benefited during the technology selloff, was tied with healthcare for the steepest sector declines of the day, with both falling 0.86%.

Healthcare’s biggest loser was Waters whose shares sank 13.9% after the lab equipment maker

forecast first-quarter profit below Wall Street estimates

. Investors also weighed weakness in a Becton Dickinson unit it acquired last year.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index gained 1.4%. Among its members, Nvidia shares added 2.5% providing the S&P 500’s biggest boost, but traders must wait until later this month for results from the AI chip leader.

Coming closer in the pipeline is the January ‍nonfarm payrolls report due on Wednesday, which was delayed by a partial government shutdown, and the closely watched January Consumer Price Index on Friday.

Markets are currently pricing in the year’s first interest-rate cut in June, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which could be when U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‍nominee for Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, ⁠takes over.

Among individual stock movers, Hims & Hers ⁠Health tumbled 16% for its seventh consecutive daily loss. Novo Nordisk sued the telehealth firm for patent infringement after the U.S. firm launched, then canceled, a $49 copy of the Danish drugmaker’s weight-loss pill Wegovy following backlash from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Workday shares slid 5% after the human resources software provider announced co-founder Aneel Bhusri will return as its CEO.

Kyndryl shares plunged 54.9% after the IT services provider delayed its quarterly filing and flagged material weakness in its financial reporting.

Kroger’s shares rallied 3.9% after the grocery giant named former Walmart executive Greg Foran as its chief executive.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.13-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 789 new highs and 99 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,887 stocks rose and 1,917 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.51-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 63 new 52-week highs and 20 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 165 new highs and 127 new lows.

Trading volume was relatively light on Monday with about 17.78 billion shares changing hands compared with the 20.66 billion moving average for the last 20 sessions.

Mumbai: Shares of gold jewellers were among the top gainers on Monday, extending the month-long rally, fuelled by the US-India trade deal, which boosted sentiment across the gems and jewellery space.

Kalyan Jewellers shot up 14.7%, leading the surge. Motisons Jewellers, Vaibhav Global, Goldiam International, Sky Gold and Diamonds, Thangamayil Jewellery and P N Gadgil Jewellers climbed 9-16%, while Titan Company gained 3%. The benchmark Nifty 50 rose 0.7%, and the Nifty Midcap 150 and Smallcap 250 indices advanced 1.6% and 2.6%, respectively.

“Monday’s run-up is largely a combination of strong results by Kalyan Jewellers and P N Gadgil, as well as tariff reduction on jewellery exports as part of the India-US bilateral trade deal,” said Gaurang Kakkad, head of research at Centrum Broking.

A joint statement issued on Friday said the US would cut tariffs on gems and diamonds exported from India, lowering them from 50% to 18%.

Harsh Thakkar, research analyst at Samco Securities, said investors expect the momentum seen in the October-December to continue into the fourth quarter, aided by wedding-season demand – a view echoed in the recent commentary from Kalyan Jewellers’ management.

Kalyan posted an 60% jump in consolidated net profit for the third quarter from July-September, while P N Gadgil posted a 115.5% rise in October– December profit. “We have seen strong thirdquarter numbers from Sky Gold and P N Gadgil, and we expect strong results from other key players such as Titan Company and Senco Gold. Investors may consider accumulating shares of leading companies in the segment on dips,” Thakkar said.

Kakkad said the third quarter saw strong momentum across jewellery retailers, supported by gold price inflation and robust wedding-related buying. In the October- –December period, international gold prices rose nearly 12% as per data from investing- .com. So far in 2026, gold is up over 16% in a volatile trading period. Kakkad added that the structural story remains intact, with organised jewellers benefiting from market-share gains from the unorganised sector, continued store additions and entry into newer categories, including lab-grown diamonds and lightweight jewellery. His top pick in the sector is Titan.

“Despite gold price volatility, January has remained healthy in terms of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) like walk-ins, footfalls and consumer traction,” said Kakkad. “We expect that some correction in gold prices will provide an opportunity to consumers who were on the fence, and therefore demand momentum should remain strong in the fourth quarter as well.”

Asian equities rose on Tuesday as a recovery in US tech stocks gathered momentum after last week’s selloff tied to concerns over spending on artificial intelligence.

The Nikkei 225 Index continued its election-fueled rally to rise over 1% to set a new record, while stocks also opened higher in South Korea and Australia. That pushed the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to an all-time high. Asian gains came after the S&P 500 climbed to close near a record on Monday, as some of the hardest-hit stocks in last week’s selloff rebounded.

The dollar held its losses and Treasuries were steady as traders geared up for Wednesday’s US jobs report. Gold and silver fell in early trading on Tuesday as investors took profits in a choppy market that’s still trying to find a floor following a historic rout.

The gains in stocks signaled easing concerns around the AI trade that came to a head in the past two weeks, lashing software companies and casting a pall over high-spending tech companies. While that plays out, traders are now bracing for key economic data that may shape expectations for the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.

“When markets sell off like certain areas in tech have, there’s often knee-jerk rallies,” said Sameer Samana at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “Time will tell if we need a retest or if enough value was created.”

In another sign of heavy spending by tech companies, Alphabet Inc. is set to raise $20 billion from a US dollar bond offering — exceeding the expected $15 billion — while also pitching investors on its first-ever sales in Switzerland and the UK. The UK deal would include a rare 100-year bond.
Elsewhere, the yen weakened on Tuesday after trading around 156 per dollar in the last session following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s historic election triumph during the weekend. Brent crude oil rose for a second day on Monday as rising tensions in the Middle East centered on OPEC member Iran added a risk premium to prices. Bitcoin wavered near $70,000.The focus this week is on a packed run of US economic data, including the two most consequential readings: employment and inflation.

The jobs report — due Wednesday — is expected to show payrolls rose 69,000 in January. The unemployment rate is seen steady at 4.4%. The data will also include historical revisions that are anticipated to show a sizable downward adjustment to payrolls in the year through March 2025.

In Friday’s consumer price index, economists will look for more evidence that inflation is on a downward trend. Before that, figures on Tuesday are projected to show solid retail sales.

Those releases could shape expectations for the Fed’s next move on interest rates. Traders are broadly expecting policymakers to leave rates on hold when they meet next month as they did in January when they voted to keep them at 3.5% to 3.75%.

Treasury yields fell on Monday after National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said lower US jobs numbers can be expected in the months ahead as population growth slows.

“We think the stabilizing labor market — marked by modest hiring and limited layoffs — should help keep the Fed on track to cut rates once or twice this year, assuming price pressures continue to ease,” said Angelo Kourkafas at Edward Jones. “Lower interest rates should reduce borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, helping support the economy and corporate profits.”