Additional Support Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than a dozen points or 0.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,635-point plateau and it's poised to extend its gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains upbeat on optimism for the outlook of interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply higher on Friday following gains across the board, especially from the financials and energy producers.

For the day, the index climbed 18.06 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 1,637.29 after trading between 1,629.57 and 1,640.03. Volume was 24.388 billion shares worth 86.480 billion baht. There were 1,199 gainers and 670 decliners, with 458 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info and Thailand Airport both improved 1.34 percent, while Asset World strengthened 1.67 percent, Banpu gained 0.79 percent, B. Grimm skyrocketed 7.19 percent, BTS Group added 0.60 percent, CP All Public advanced 0.82 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods climbed 1.00 percent, Energy Absolute gathered 1.29 percent, Gulf accelerated 3.94 percent, IRPC increased 0.65 percent, KCE Electronics spiked 3.31 percent, Krung Thai Card was up 1.28 percent, PTT Oil & Retail perked 1.23 percent, PTT rose 1.46 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dipped 0.26 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 2.69 percent, SCG Packaging soared 2.70 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.47 percent, Thai Oil surged 1.38 percent, True Corporation strengthened 0.82 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Bangkok Expressway, Kasikornbank and Krung Thai Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened mixed on Friday, with the Dow spending most of the session in negative territory before breaking into the green late in the day.

The Dow rose 32.49 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 33,747.86, while the NASDAQ surged 209.18 points or 1.88 percent to close at 11,323.33 and the S&P 500 advanced 36.56 points or 0.92 percent to end at 3,992.93.

For the week, the NASDAQ skyrocketed 8.1 percent, the S&P 500 soared 5.9 percent and the Dow jumped 4.2 percent.

The extended rally on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from optimism about the Federal Reserve slowing the pace of interest rate hikes following Thursday's tamer than expected inflation data.

On the heels of the inflation data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 80.6 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by 50 basis points next month compared to the recent 75 basis point rate hikes.

Crude oil prices spiked on Friday, supported by a weak dollar and reports about China cutting quarantine restrictions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $2.49 or 2.9 percent at $88.96 a barrel.