Lower Open Tipped For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 24 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,260-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns about the health of the American economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are also expected to open to the downside.

The SET finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the food, consumer, industrial, property and technology sectors.

For the day, the index gained 12.25 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 1,264.80 after trading between 1,255.71 and 1,270.31. Volume was 11.426 billion shares worth 51.657 billion baht.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.34 percent, while Thailand Airport was up 3.36 percent, Asset World jumped 2.59 percent, Banpu strengthened 1.63 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.98 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical added 1.45 percent, Bangkok Expressway gathered 2.94 percent, B. Grimm expanded 4.00 percent, BTS Group perked 2.48 percent, CP All Public gained 1.60 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods soared 3.21 percent, Energy Absolute skyrocketed 5.22 percent, Gulf climbed 1.06 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.58 percent, Krung Thai Card rallied 2.61 percent, PTT Oil & Retail improved 4.35 percent, PTT sank 0.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 1.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 4.72 percent, SCG Packaging accelerated 3.47 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.39 percent, Siam Concrete spiked 2.82 percent, Thai Oil increased 0.75 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.89 percent and TTB Bank and Krung Thai Bank were unchanged.

The lead from the Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the day in the red.

The Dow stumbled 220.44 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 45,400.86, while the NASDAQ fell 7.31 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,700.39 and the S&P 500 sank 20.58 points or 0.32 percent to end at 6,481.50. For the week, the NASDAQ jumped 1.1 percent, the S&P rose 0.3 percent and the Dow dipped 0.3 percent.

The early downturn on Wall Street came as traders digested a closely watched Labor Department report showing much weaker than expected U.S. job growth in the month of August.

Traders initially reacted positively to the report amid optimism the data will convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates later this month. But buying interest quickly waned amid concerns about the outlook for the economy.

Crude oil moved sharply lower on Friday as oversupply concerns grew stronger ahead of OPEC's Sunday meeting, where the group did as expected and boosted output. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery dropped $1.64 or 2.58 percent to $61.84 per barrel.