Thai Stock Market Expected To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long weekend for Coronation Day, the Thai stock market had snapped the three-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 15 points or 1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,530-point plateau and it's likely to return to the upside on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid economic and earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the food and financial shares were capped by weakness from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 4.87 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 1,533.30 after trading between 1,507.22 and 1,533.90. Volume was 15.640 billion shares worth 54.979 billion baht. There were 713 decliners and 673 gainers, with 459 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport was down 0.34 percent, while Asset World advanced 0.94 percent, Banpu added 0.56 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.32 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical was up 0.85 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 1.30 percent, BTS Group perked 0.65 percent, CP All Public slid 0.39 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.97 percent, Energy Absolute lost 0.38 percent, Gulf gained 0.98 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.39 percent, Krung Thai Bank improved 1.10 percent, Krung Thai Card gathered 0.95 percent, PTT Oil & Retail fell 0.45 percent, PTT declined 1.61 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 2.02 percent, SCG Packaging climbed 1.13 percent, Siam Commercial Bank increased 0.98 percent, Siam Concrete soared 2.85 percent, Thai Oil stumbled 1.60 percent, True Corporation surrendered 1.23 percent, TTB Bank spiked 2.07 percent and PTT Global Chemical, Bangkok Expressway and Advanced Info were unchanged.

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

The Dow surged 546.68 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 33,674.38, while the NASDAQ rallied 269.01 points or 2.25 percent to end at 12,235.41 and the S&P 500 jumped 75.03 points or 1.85 percent to close at 4,136.25. For the week, the NASDAQ rose 0.1 percent, the S&P slid 0.8 percent and the Dow fell 1.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting, as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness.

Regional banks helped lead the recovery after ongoing concerns about turmoil in the sector weighed on the markets in recent sessions, while strong quarterly results from tech giant Apple (AAPL) fueled gains on the NASDAQ.

Traders also reacted to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report for April, which showed that job growth far exceeded estimates and the unemployment rate ticked lower.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on easing recession concerns in some of the world's major economies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $2.78 or 4.1 percent at $71.34 a barrel but was down more than 7 percent for the week.