Thai Bourse Poised To Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market had finished lower in five straight sessions, sinking almost 30 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,535-point plateau although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, thanks to encouraging economic and earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were up sharply and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index dipped 3.45 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 1,533.37 after trading between 1,517.51 and 1,539.96. Volume was 20.246 billion shares worth 64.710 billion baht. There were 1,146 decliners and 501 gainers, with 481 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.49 percent, while Banpu dropped 0.79 percent, B. Grimm sank 0.67 percent, CP All Public rose 0.41 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.96 percent, JMT Network surged 3.79 percent, Kasikornbank plunged 3.11 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.68 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.46 percent, PTT slumped 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production retreated 1.60 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.57 percent, SCG Packaging declined 0.92 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skidded 1.05 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.80 percent, Thai Oil stumbled 1.50 percent, True Corporation improved 0.43 percent and TTB Bank, Thailand Airport, Asset World, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Bangkok Expressway, BTS Group, Energy Absolute, Gulf, IRPC and PTT Oil & Retail all were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained firmly in the green throughout the session.

The Dow surged 658.09 points or 2.15 percent to finish at 31,288.26, while the NASDAQ spiked 201.24 points or 1.79 percent to end at 11,452.42 and the S&P 500 jumped 72.78 points or 1.92 percent to close at 3,863.16.

For the week, the NASDAQ slumped by 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 slid by 0.9 percent and the Dow edged down by 0.2 percent.

A positive reaction to the latest earnings news contributed to the rally on Wall Street, fueled by the likes of Citigroup (C) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which exceeded expectations.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales jumped more than expected last month. Also, the University of Michigan unexpectedly showed a modest improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in July. And the Labor Department said U.S. import prices crept up much less than expected in June.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday, buoyed by reports that an increase in Saudi oil output is unlikely for now. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.81 or 1.9 percent at $97.59 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed nearly 7 percent in the week.