Steady Start Expected For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, sinking more than 25 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,665-point plateau and it's likely to see little movement again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday as the financial shares and energy companies were mostly in the red.

For the day, the index dipped 4.60 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 1,664.57 after trading between 1,660.10 and 1,668.97. Volume was 16.293 billion shares worth 58.927 billion baht. There were 992 decliners and 488 gainers, with 509 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info surged 3.26 percent, while Thailand Airport shed 0.69 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.86 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.86 percent, BTS Group slumped 1.21 percent, CP All Public dipped 0.37 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.13 percent, Gulf advanced 0.94 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 1.04 percent, Krung Thai Card slid 0.43 percent, PTT Oil & Retail lost 0.46 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.31 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tanked 2.90 percent, Thai Oil fell 0.44 percent and TTB Bank, Banpu, B. Grimm, PTT, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Concrete and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened lower on Friday, although only the NASDAQ ended the session in the red.

The Dow climbed 169.37 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 33,869.27, while the NASDAQ sank 71.48 points or 061 percent to end at 11,718.12 and the S&P 500 rose 8.96 points or 0.22 percent to close at 4,090.46.

For the week, the NASSDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent, the S&P lost 1.1 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's closely watched inflation data.

Traders also reacted to mixed February consumer sentiment data released by the University of Michigan. While consumer sentiment saw a continued improvement in February, the report also showed a rebound in near-term inflation expectations.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Friday on continued optimism about higher fuel demand from China, and on Russia's move to reduce oil output next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.66 or 2.1 percent at $79.72 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9 percent in the week.