Steady Start Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 5 points or 0.3 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,645-point plateau and it may inch higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with sliding oil prices offset by weakness among the tech shares. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and services were offset by weakness from the industrials and properties.

For the day, the index rose 3.36 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 1.644.39 after trading between 1,622.59 and 1,645.74. Volume was 11.818 billion shares worth 89.284 billion baht. There were 237 decliners and 191 gainers, with 217 stocks finishing unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed and bounced up and down all day before ending on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow jumped 235.60 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 51,947.25, while the NASDAQ sank 161.87 points or 0.64 percent to end at 24,975.82 and the S&P 500 perked 3.68 points or 0.05 percent to close at 7,411.98.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled 2.1 percent for the week, closing below 25,000 for the first time since late April. The S&P 500 and Dow posted more modest weekly losses, falling by 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street in morning trading came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil as investors analyzed the impact of an output increase by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $2.99 or 3.24 percent at $89.20 per barrel.

The subsequent pullback by stocks in afternoon trading reflected renewed tariff concerns after President Donald Trump threatened to impose substantial tariffs on the European Union over the substantial fines the bloc has levied against major U.S. tech companies.