Thai Bourse May Find Traction On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Thai Stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,500-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on strong employment data from the United States. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to move mostly higher.

The SET finished modestly lower again on Friday as losses from the food, service and technology sectors were mitigated by support from the consumer and finance companies.

For the day, the index slipped 7.17 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 1,500.36 after trading between 1,498.12 and 1,512.66. Volume was 9.731 billion shares worth 64.393 billion baht. There were 242 decliners and 221 gainers, with 197 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport crashed 2.84 percent, while Asset World jumped 1.90 percent, Banpu dropped 0.85 percent, Bangkok Bank advanced 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 0.92 percent, B. Grimm increased 0.72 percent, BTS Group skidded 0.96 percent, CP All Public stumbled 1.69 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.56 percent, Energy Absolute contracted 1.48 percent, Gulf surrendered 2.83 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank improved 0.77 percent, Krung Thai Card sank 0.83 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 0.81 percent, PTT rallied 2.10 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 068 percent, PTT Global Chemical vaulted 1.31 percent, SCG Packaging plunged 3.85 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.38 percent, Siam Concrete retreated 1.28 percent, Thai Oil climbed 1.07 percent and True Corporation, TTB Bank, Advanced Info and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow spent the ay bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The Dow rose 12.19 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 49,609.16, while the NASDAQ rallied 440.88 points or 1.71 percent to end at 26,247.08 and the S&P 500 gained 61.82 points or 0.84 percent to close at 7,398.93.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.4 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 2.3 percent and the Dow crept up 0.2 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing much stronger than expected U.S. job growth in April.

The data helped ease concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East even after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude oil prices inched higher Friday as Middle East tensions renewed between the U.S. and Iran. Iran is also delaying its response to a U.S. peace proposal, adding to the uncertainty. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $0.36 or 0.36 percent at $95.17 per barrel.