Thai Bourse Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 10 points or 0.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,685-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index rose 5.78 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 1,688.36. Volume was 17.914 billion shares worth 58.585 billion baht. There were 848 decliners and 617 gainers, with 575 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info improved 0.51 percent, while Thailand Airport skidded 1.01 percent, Banpu dropped 0.86 percent, BTS Group slid 0.59 percent, CP All Public climbed 1.12 percent, Energy Absolute surged 3.47 percent, Gulf and SCG Packaging both gained 0.47 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail added 0.45 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tumbled 2.35 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.50 percent, Thai Oil sank 0.87 percent, True Corporation was down 0.41 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Card, Siam Concrete, B. Grimm, PTT, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday, rallied midday but sank into the red by the close.

The Dow tumbled 127.89 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 33,926.01, while the NASDAQ plunged 193.84 points or 1.59 percent to close at 12,006.96 and the S&P 500 sank 43.28 points or 1.04 percent to end at 4,136.48.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.6 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of much stronger than expected jobs data.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has led to concerns the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates higher than currently anticipated.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday amid concerns about the outlook for fuel demand, with investors weighing the prospects of a recession - while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $2.49 or 3.3 percent at $73.39 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see January data for consumer prices later today, with forecasts suggesting an annual increase of 5.12 percent for overall inflation and 3.10 percent for core CPI.