Thai Stock Market Expected To Remain Rangebound On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday ended the modest two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 7 points or 0.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,300-point plateau and it's looking at a fairly flat lead for Friday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with profit taking among the technology stocks 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 lower on Thursday following losses from the food, finance, property, industrial, resource and services sectors.

For the day, the index fell 5.53 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 1,298.29 after trading between 1,293.69 and 1,304.24. Volume was 11.520 billion shares worth 37.919 billion baht. There were 262 decliners and 189 gainers, with 202 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.48 percent, while Thailand Airport weakened 1.22 percent, Asset World soared 2.31 percent, Banpu gained 0.40 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.38 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.97 percent, Bangkok Expressway plunged 2.50 percent, B. Grimm and Thai Oil both improved 0.48 percent, CP All Public tumbled 1.81 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.34 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 2.22 percent, Krung Thai Bank and Krung Thai Card both shed 0.58 percent, PTT slumped 0.77 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.84 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.74 percent, Siam Concrete skidded 0.90 percent, True Corporation rallied 2.37 percent, TTB Bank jumped 1.86 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Gulf, PTT Oil & Retail and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher, but the NASDAQ and S&P 500 turned lower and finished that way - while the Dow ended in the green.

The Dow rallied 299.90 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 39,134.76, while the NASDAQ stumbled 140.64 points or 0.79 percent to close at 17,721.59 and the S&P sank 13.86 points or 0.25 percent to end at 5,473.17.

While the early strength on Wall Street came amid a continued advanced by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), the subsequent downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 was also led by a significant pullback by the AI darling and market leader.

The downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P may also have reflected profit taking after the indexes reached new record intraday highs, with the S&P 500 turning lower after climbing above 5,500 for the first time.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported a modest pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop in new U.S. residential construction in May.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell slightly more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.60 at $82.17 a barrel.