Thai Stock Market Expected To Open In The Green On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 10 points or 0.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,685-point plateau and it's tipped to bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, fueled by gains from the technology stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index dipped 3.17 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 1,682.58 after trading between 1,681.74 and 1,692.94. Volume was 20.243 billion shares worth 62.327 billion baht. There were 902 decliners and 588 gainers, with 565 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info eased 0.25 percent, while Bangkok Bank advanced 0.94 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dipped 0.83 percent, Bangkok Expressway retreated 0.51 percent, B. Grimm was down 0.61 percent, CP All Public skidded 0.74 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.42 percent, Energy Absolute tumbled 1.70 percent, Gulf slumped 1.38 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.35 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.57 percent, PTT Oil & Retail added 0.45 percent, PTT dropped 0.75 percent, PTT Exploration and Production surrendered 1.73 percent, PTT Global Chemical slid 0.50 percent, SCG Packaging and Siam Commercial Bank both lost 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete retreated 1.17 percent, Thai Oil weakened 1.28 percent, TTB Bank declined 1.36 percent and Banpu and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is a dichotomy as the Dow opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained in the red throughout, while the NASDAQ and S&P opened higher and stayed solidly in the green.

The Dow dipped 39.02 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 34,053.94, while the NASDAQ surged 384.50 points or 3.25 percent to end at 12,200.82 and the S&P 500 soared 60.55 points or 1.47 percent to end at 4,179.76.

The surge by the NASDAQ came as Meta Platforms (META) led a tech sector rally, with the Facebook parent skyrocketing by 23.3 percent to a nearly eight-month closing high after reporting better than expected Q4 revenues.

Stocks also continued to benefit from a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement on Wednesday, with traders expressing optimism the Fed is nearing the end of its rate hiking cycle.

At the same time, the Dow bucked the uptrend due partly to a notable decline by shares of Merck (MRK), which tumbled by 3.3 percent after the drug giant provided disappointing guidance.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Thursday, weighed down by data showing an increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. The dollar's recovery and uncertainty about the outlook for energy demand due to concerns about a global recession also hurt. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell $0.53 or 0.7 percent at $75.88 a barrel.