Lower Open Tipped For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for King Chulalongkorn Memorial Day, the Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, climbing more than 7 points or 0.4 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,560-point plateau although it may tick lower on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on rising oil prices and ahead of this week's U.S. rate decision. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are likely to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index added 6.58 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 1,562.67 after trading between 1,551.32 and 1,565.36.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and mostly stayed under water, finishing near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 652.84 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 52,215.16, while the NASDAQ sank 53.56 points or 0.21 percent to close at 25,955.34 and the S&P 500 lost 39.75 points or 0.52 percent to end at 7,623.68.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.4 percent, the NASDAQ shed 0.7 percent and the S&P fell 0.5 percent.

Lingering concerns about the artificial intelligence trade contributed to the weakness on Wall Street along with a continued increase in the price of crude oil.

Crude oil prices spiked on Friday on rising fears of fresh U.S.-Iran conflict, as well as the ongoing Houthi-Saudi Arabia violence. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $3.54 or 3.56 percent at $103.01 per barrel.

However, traders were reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of several key events this week, including the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting. The Fed is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday and leave rates unchanged.

Closer to home, Thailand will sometime this week provide September figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to jump 31.3 percent on year, up from 25.1 percent in August. Exports are called higher by an annual 17.9 percent, easing from 24.3 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit id pegged at $1.800 billion following the $.480 billion shortfall a month earlier.