Thai Bourse Expected To Snap Losing Streak On Monday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for King Bhumibol's birthday, the Thai stock market had ticked lower in back-to-back sessions, easing almost 4 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,275-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Thursday as losses from the industrials, properties and technology stocks were offset by support from the food, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index dipped 1.05 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,273.77 after trading between 1,270.89 and 1,284.32. Volume was 5.489 billion shares worth 38.508 billion baht. There were 255 decliners and 181 gainers, with 226 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.65 percent, while Thailand Airport skyrocketed 11.58 percent, Banpu fell 0.40 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical skidded 1.05 percent, Bangkok Expressway plunged 1.80 percent, B. Grimm retreated 1.41 percent, BTS Group plummeted 2.34 percent, CP All Public surrendered 1.71 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.98 percent, Energy Absolute sank 0.76 percent, Gulf jumped 1.89 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.88 percent, Krung Thai Card dropped 0.88 percent, PTT Oil & Retail contracted 1.49 percent, PTT vaulted 1.60 percent, PTT Exploration and Production stumbled 1.85 percent, PTT Global Chemical slumped 0.98 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 1.91 percent, Siam Concrete tanked 2.13 percent, Thai Oil declined 1.38 percent, TTB Bank added 0.51 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Asset World and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and bounced up and down all day but always remained in the green.

The Dow added 104.05 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 47,954.99, while the NASDAQ gained 72.99 points or 0.31 percent to close at 23,578.13 and the S&P 500 rose 13.28 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,870.40.

For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.9 percent, the Dow climbed 0.5 percent and the S&P rose 0.3 percent.

The modest strength on Wall Street followed the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that was in line with estimates, reinforcing recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating an 87.2 percent chance the Fed will lower interest rates by another quarter point this week.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday on persistent geopolitical tension due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Venezuela standoff. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.35 or 0.59 percent at $60.02 per barrel.