Thai Stock Market Expected To Halt Its Slide On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, dipping more than 7 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,455-point plateau although it's due for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit, although profit taking may take hold later in the day.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the industrial, property, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index sank 6.55 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 1,455.03 after trading between 1,449.68 and 1,464.81. Volume was 14.594 billion shares worth 56.090 billion baht. There were 386 decliners and 127 gainers, with 147 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slid 0.38 percent, while Thailand Airport gained 0.40 percent, Asset World fell 0.53 percent, Banpu surrendered 2.13 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.65 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slumped 1.61 percent, B. Grimm dipped 0.42 percent, BTS Group sank 1.75 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rallied 1.25 percent, Energy Absolute tumbled 4.55 percent, Gulf dropped 0.87 percent, Kasikornbank retreated 1.28 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.49 percent, Krung Thai Card surged 2.67 percent, PTT Oil & Retail jumped 2.33 percent, PTT Exploration and Production stumbled 1.79 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 2.36 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 5.47 percent, Siam Concrete tanked 3.25 percent, Thai Oil declined 1.45 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.02 percent and Siam Commercial Bank, True Corporation, PTT, CP All Public and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and maintained a positive bias throughout the session.

The Dow rallied 260.36 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 42,175.11, while the NASDAQ jumped 108.09 points or 0.60 percent to end at 18,190.29 and the S&P 500 added 23.11 points or 0.40 percent to close at 5,745.37.

The early rally on Wall Street reflected strength in the tech sector, with chipmaker Micron (MU) helping lead the way higher after reporting better than expected quarterly results and providing strong fiscal revenue guidance.

Stocks also benefited from the release of upbeat U.S. economic data after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week. The Commerce Department also reported that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods were virtually unchanged in August.

Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday, weighed down by concerns about excess supply in the market after reports said OPEC will return 2.2 million barrels per day of production cuts back into the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $2.02 or 2.9 percent at $67.67 a barrel.