Thai Shares May Test Resistance At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market ticked higher again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 50 points or 3.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,590-point plateau and it may see continued if mild upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with weakness from the technology shares likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index rose 5.33 points or 1,593.56 after trading between 1,583.28 and 1,596.56. Volume was 10.590 billion shares worth 92510 billion baht. There were 270 gainers and 185 decliners, with 205 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info expanded 1.38 percent, while Thailand Airport skidded 1.16 percent, Asset World and PTT Exploration and Production both lost 0.76 percent, Banpu advanced 0.93 percent, Bangkok Bank soared 6.11 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical improved 2.07 percent, Bangkok Expressway was up 0.81 percent, B. Grimm climbed 1.18 percent, BTS Group increased 192 percent, CP All Public vaulted 3.74 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods spiked 3.57 percent, Energy Absolute added 0.68 percent, Gulf jumped 2.44 percent, Kasikornbank surged 6.88 percent, Krung Thai Bank accelerated 4.61 percent, Krung Thai Card rallied 3.76 percent, PTT Oil & Retail strengthened 1.63 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.75 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.86 percent, Siam Commercial Bank and TTB Bank both collected 4.07 percent, Siam Concrete slumped 0.82 percent, Thai Oil rose 0.51 percent, True Corporation jumped 2.36 percent and PTT was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but slumped after the release of U.S. jobless data; the markers eventually recovered to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 594.83 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 52,900.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 207.36 points or 0.80 percent to end at 25,832.67 and the S&P 500 perked 0.01 point or 0.00 percent to close at 7,483.24.

The markets opened slightly higher on Thursday but were clearly waiting on the jobs data. Stocks sank after the Labor Department said employment in the U.S. increased much less than expected in June.

Sentiment eventually turned higher again as the lower-than-expected payrolls data caused markets to tone down fears of an immediate rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department reported a steep drop in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in May, thanks to a sharp pullback in new orders for durable goods. Also, first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Thursday after the U.S. and Iran expressed contradictory remarks over the management of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $0.05 or 0.07 percent at $68.63 per barrel.