Mild Upside Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday snapped the four-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 20 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,310-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher ahead of key inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 9.69 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,309.46 after trading between 1,307.67 and 1,316.58. Volume was 10.667 billion shares worth 34.178 billion baht. There were 339 decliners and 156 gainers, with 162 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport gave up 0.85 percent, while Asset World lost 0.57 percent, Banpu plummeted 3.37 percent, Bangkok Bank tumbled 1.88 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.93 percent, B. Grimm added 0.46 percent, BTS Group softened 1.29 percent, CP All Public was down 0.45 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.29 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 12.79 percent, Gulf fell 0.61 percent, Kasikornbank slid 0.40 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.59 percent, Krung Thai Card weakened 1.19 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 1.84 percent, PTT sank 0.76 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dipped 0.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.40 percent, SCG Packaging declined 1.47 percent, Siam Commercial Bank surrendered 1.89 percent, Siam Concrete stumbled 1.32 percent, Thai Oil slumped 1.85 percent, True Corporation jumped 1.71 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.16 percent and Advanced Info and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line all day Thursday before finally settling with mild gains.

The Dow added 36.26 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 39,164.06, while the NASDAQ gained 53.53 points or 0.30 percent to close at 17,858.68 and the S&P 500 rose 4.97 points or 0.09 percent to end at 5,482.87.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of key inflation data later today.

The Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in May, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve; the report could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods unexpectedly crept higher last month.

Oil futures settled higher Thursday on hopes about the outlook for demand, and on concerns about possible supply disruptions due to tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August added $0.84 at $81.74 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release May numbers for industrial production, current account, imports, exports and trade balance later today. In April, production was up 3.43 percent on year, while the current account showed a deficit of $0.040 billion. Imports were up 6.4 percent on year and exports added 5.8 percent for a trade surplus of $0.30 billion.