Rally May Stall For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 5 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,450-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the financials and industrials were capped by weakness from the energy companies.

For the day, the index picked up 1.30 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 1,452.55 after trading between 1,443.43 and 1,456.34. Volume was 10.296 billion shares worth 43.123 billion baht. There were 249 decliners and 217 gainers, with 177 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.44 percent, while Thailand Airport jumped 1.09 percent, Asset World climbed 1.10 percent, Banpu gained 0.65 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.60 percent, BTS Group slumped 1.38 percent, CP All Public gathered 0.82 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.99 percent, Energy Absolute increased 0.51 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.39 percent, Krung Thai Card surged 3.98 percent, PTT Oil & Retail strengthened 1.12 percent, PTT sank 0.78 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plunged 2.42 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 1.53 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dropped 0.97 percent, Siam Concrete soared 2.35 percent, Thai Oil tanked 2.09 percent, True Corporation improved 0.72 percent, TTB Bank added 0.59 percent and Krung Thai Bank, while SCG Packaging, B. Grimm, Gulf, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, tumbled and then rebounded but still ended slightly under water.

The Dow dipped 9.98 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,119.57, while the NASDAQ fell 16.18 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,219.83 and the S&P 500 eased 5.56 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,258.19.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as traders remained worried about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of closely watched employment data later today.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, with a continue pullback by treasuries inspiring some traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels.

Ahead of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department reported a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday amid uncertainty about the outlook for demand and due to disappointment over OPEC's decision to not increase the size of production cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.91 or 2.3 percent at $82.31 a barrel.