Rebound Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after ending the six-day losing streak in which it had plunged almost 60 points or 4 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,530-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to an earnings-driven rally among technology stocks. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter leads.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the technology, food and financial shares were mitigated by support from the industrial and resource companies.

For the day, the index sank 12.72 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 1,531.23. Volume was 13.556 billion shares worth 43.644 billion baht. There were 902 decliners and 486 gainers, with 405 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info increased 0.94 percent, while Asset World advanced 0.93 percent, Banpu spiked 2.25 percent, Bangkok Bank slipped 0.32 percent, Bangkok Expressway strengthened 1.12 percent, B. Grimm jumped 2.00 percent, CP All Public gained 0.78 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.49 percent, Energy Absolute stumbled 1.79 percent, Gulf was down 0.49 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.39 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.55 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 1.90 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rallied 2.78 percent, PTT improved 0.82 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical climbed 1.23 percent, SCG Packaging soared 2.92 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dipped 0.48 percent, Siam Concrete surged 3.32 percent, Thai Oil sank 0.53 percent, True Corporation accelerated 2.55 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.36 percent and Bangkok Dusit Medical, Thailand Airport and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 524.29 points or 1.57 percent to finish at 33,826.16, while the NASDAQ soared 287.89 points or 2.43 percent to end at 12,142.24 and the S&P 500 jumped 79.36 points or 1.96 percent to close at 4,135.35.

The rally on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META), which reported better than expected first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance for the current quarter.

Media conglomerate Comcast (CMCSA) also moved sharply higher after reporting first quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates. Big-name companies like eBay (EBAY), Honeywell (HON) and Eli Lilly (LLY) also posted strong gains after reporting their quarterly results.

Meanwhile, traders shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter of 2023. Also, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, supported by data showing a drop in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.46 or 0.6 percent at $74.76 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide March numbers for imports, exports, trade balance, current account and industrial production later today. In February, imports were up 1.8 percent on year and exports fell 4.1 percent for a trade surplus of $1.30 billion. The current account surplus also was $1.30 billion and industrial production fell an annual 2.71 percent.