Thai Shares May Reclaim 1,200-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 4.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,195-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing inflation and tariff concerns. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses among the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index tumbled 22.22 points or 1.83 percent to finish at 1,194.49 after trading between 1,191.40 and 1,212.48. Volume was 9.638 billion shares worth 45.794 billion baht. There were 412 decliners and 126 gainers, with 128 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info stumbled 1.99 percent, while Thailand Airport cratered 6.67 percent, Asset World plummeted 4.63 percent, Banpu contracted 3.33 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical crashed 2.48 percent, B. Grimm weakened 2.54 percent, BTS Group plunged 2.11 percent, CP All Public jumped 1.47 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tumbled 1.89 percent, Energy Absolute skidded 1.57 percent, Gulf sank 2.05 percent, Kasikornbank retreated 1.22 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.89 percent, Krung Thai Card tanked 2.47 percent, PTT Oil & Retail lost 2.22 percent, PTT dipped 0.80 percent PTT Exploration and Production was down 3.38 percent, PTT Global Chemical surrendered 2.60 percent, SCG Packaging slumped 1.20 percent, Siam Commercial Bank eased 0.42 percent, Siam Concrete declined 1.18 percent, Thai Oil fell 2.75 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.52 percent and Bangkok Bank, True Corporation and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly positive as the major averages opened in the red on Thursday but rallied to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 271.69 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 42,322.75, while the NASDAQ dipped 34.49 points or 0.18 percent to close at 19,112.32 and the S&P 500 added 24.35 points or 0.41 percent to end at 5,916.93.

The choppy trading on day came as traders digested an avalanche of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing producer prices unexpectedly decreased in the month of April.

Another report from the Commerce Department showed a slight increase by U.S. retail sales in April. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said industrial production in the U.S. was unchanged in the month of April.

Crude oil futures showed a substantial move to the downside on Thursday on reports the U.S. is very close to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. Crude for June delivery plunged $1.53 or 2.4 percent to $61.62 a barrel.