Narrow Trading Range Expected For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Friday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 20 points or 1.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,555-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with easing recession concerns offset by the worsening outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index slipped 4.50 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 1,557.97 after trading between 1,554.26 and 1,569.48. Volume was 18.397 billion shares worth 54.581 billion baht. There were 1,133 decliners and 468 gainers, with 521 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport sank 0.70 percent, Asset World added 0.41 percent, Banpu strengthened 1.61 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.38 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.76 percent, BTS Group climbed 1.17 percent, CP All Public lost 0.78 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.93 percent, IRPC retreated 0.62 percent, Kasikornbank declined 1.71 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 1.36 percent, Krung Thai Card rose 0.45 percent, PTT slumped 0.72 percent, PTT Exploration and Production accelerated 1.60 percent, PTT Global Chemical spiked 1.68 percent, SCG Packaging gained 0.47 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dipped 0.25 percent, Siam Concrete was up 0.26 percent, Thai Oil increased 0.49 percent, True Corporation gathered 0.43 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Energy Absolute, Gulf and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line on Friday, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 46.45 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 31,338.15m while the NASDAQ rose 14.01 points or 0.12 percent to end at 11,635.31 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.24 points or 0.08 percent to close at 3,899.38. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.6 percent, the S&P jumped 1.9 percent and the Dow rose 0.8 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing stronger than expected U.S. job growth in June.

The data eased worries about the economy, but it also added to concerns about aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, gaining for a second straight day after the stronger than expected jobs report. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August jumped $2.06 or 2 percent at $104.79 a barrel, but WTI crude futures shed more than 3 percent in the week.