Mild Upside Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market picked up less than a single point on Friday, but that was enough to end the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,620-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with bargain hunting offset by ongoing concerns over the outlook for the global economy. The European markets were sharply higher and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished barely higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index rose 0.20 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 1,622.15 after trading between 1,611.19 and 1,626.48. Volume was 21.532 billion shares worth 61.344 billion baht. There were 946 decliners and 661 gainers, with 604 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.52 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.35 percent, Asset World dropped 0.90 percent, Banpu sank 0.71 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.47 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.86 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.57 percent, B. Grimm shed 0.68 percent, BTS Group soared 3.61 percent, CP All Public declined 1.23 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods skidded 0.97 percent, Energy Absolute improved 0.60 percent, Gulf strengthened 1.48 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.33 percent, Krung Thai Bank tumbled 1.80 percent, Krung Thai Card increased 0.43 percent, PTT Oil & Retail weakened 0.93 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 0.30 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.69 percent, SCG Packaging retreated 1.79 percent, Siam Commercial Bank slumped 0.46 percent, Thai Oil was down 0.42 percent, True Corporation rallied 0.89 percent and TTB Bank, IRPC, PTT and Siam Concrete were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but tumbled in afternoon trade to finish deep in the red.

The Dow plummeted 337.98 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,318.44, while the NASDAQ tumbled 154.26 points or 1.31 percent to close at 11,630.86 and the S&P 500 sank 42.59 points or 1.07 percent to end at 3,924.26.

The volatility on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing U.S. employment increased roughly in line with estimates in August.

Amid recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates, the jobs data was described as a goldilocks report by some economists, coming in neither too hot nor too cold.

A separate report from the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a sharp pullback in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in July.

Crude oil prices ticked higher Friday on rising prospects for a reduction in output from OPEC and allies. But prices were down for the week amid worries about outlook for energy demand due to concerns about slowing global growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $86.87 a barrel; they were down 6.7 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Thailand will release August figures for consumer prices later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 7.85 percent on year, up from 7.61 percent in July. Core CPI is seen higher by an annual 3.2 percent, up from 2.99 percent in the previous month.