Thai Stock Market May Add To Its Winnings On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 20 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,295-point plateau and it's likely to open to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat in easing concerns for the health of the United States economy. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the food, consumer, industrial, property, resource and service sectors were capped by weakness from the financial and technology stocks.

For the day, the index added 5.70 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 1,296.25 after trading between 1,287.14 and 1,299.14. Volume was 8.702 billion shares worth 36.240 billion baht. There were 340 gainers and 143 decliners, with 171 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World jumped 1.81 percent, Banpu surged 5.38 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.13 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gathered 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 1.35 percent, B. Grimm advanced 0.87 percent, BTS Group accelerated 4.79 percent, CP All Public increased 0.88 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.43 percent, Energy Absolute soared 4.92 percent, Gulf slid 0.52 percent, Kasikornbank slumped 1.15 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail declined 0.67 percent, PTT improved 0.78 percent, PTT Exploration and Production strengthened 1.71 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 2.10 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.49 percent, Siam Concrete sank 0.75 percent, Thai Oil spiked 3.16 percent, True Corporation climbed 1.01 percent, TTB Bank collected 1.20 percent and Krung Thai Card, SCG Packaging, Advanced Info and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher and continued to accelerate throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 683.04 points or 1.76 percent to finish at 39,446.49, while the NASDAQ rallied 464.22 points or 2.87 percent to end at 16,660.02 and the S&P 500 jumped 119.81 points or 2.30 percent to close at 5,319.31.

The rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected last week.

The data helped ease concerns about the strength of the labor market, which have contributed to recent selling on Wall Street.

On the corporate scene, athletic apparel company Under Armour (UAA) and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) bounced higher after strong results, while Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) slumped after showing soft numbers.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, amid possible supply disruptions due to Middle East tensions, and on hopes of increased demand in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.96 or 1.28 percent at $76.19 a barrel.