Rebound Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Friday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 30 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,555-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of this week's Federal Reserve's meeting. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the packaging, technology and food stocks, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index slipped 4.39 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 1,555.11 after trading between 1,549.57 and 1,559.43. Volume was 12.299 billion shares worth 43.301 billion baht.

Among the actives, Advanced Info improved 0.92 percent, while Thailand Airport jumped 1.40 percent, Asset World dropped 0.99 percent, Banpu climbed 1.16 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gathered 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 0.60 percent, CP All Public rose 0.40 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.54 percent, Gulf lost 0.53 percent, Kasikornbank sank 0.75 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.52 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.47 percent, Precise Corporation skyrocketed 7.95 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rallied 1.46 percent, PTT Exploration and Production fell 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.65 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 1.91 percent, Siam Concrete retreated 1.48 percent, True Corporation strengthened 1.44 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.60 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, B. Grimm, PTT, Thai Oil and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened firmly higher on Friday, slumped midday but ticked back into the green to end slightly higher.

The Dow added 43.18 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 33,876.78, while the NASDAQ rose 20.64 points or 0.16 percent to close at 13,259.14 and the S&P 500 perked 4.93 points or 0.11 percent to end at 4,298.86.

For the week, the S&P rose 0.4 percent, the Dow gained 0.3 percent and the NASDAQ perked 0.1 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

Thursday's report showing initial jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October 2021 last week added to the optimism about the Fed pausing its interest rate hikes.

Crude oil prices slumped again on Friday, extending losses from the previous session on concerns about the outlook for demand ahead of several key central bank meetings this week. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell $1.12 or 1.6 percent to $70.17 a barrel.