Thai Stock Market May Build On Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Friday halted the three-day slide in which it had fallen more than a dozen points or 0.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,680-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher ahead of this week's FOMC meeting. The European and U.S. markets saw mild upside and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and energy companies.

For the day, the index added 9.96 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 1,681.30 after trading between 1,670.91 and 1,683.77. Volume was 15.605 billion shares worth 57.808 billion baht. There were 969 decliners and 539 gainers, with 578 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport rose 0.33 percent, while Bangkok Bank rallied 2.52 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical improved 0.83 percent, B. Grimm added 0.62 percent, BTS Group and PTT Exploration and Production, Both gained 0.58 percent, CP All Public sank 0.72 percent, Energy Absolute increased 0.59 percent, Gulf gathered 0.46 percent, Kasikornbank strengthened 1.37 percent, Krung Thai Card climbed 1.33 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.88 percent, PTT Global Chemical jumped 1.51 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.96 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.93 percent, Siam Concrete spiked 1.80 percent, Thai Oil surged 3.88 percent, True Corporation perked 0.41 percent and TTB Bank, Advanced Info, Asset World, Banpu, Bangkok Expressway, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Krung Thai Bank and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be positive as the major averages shook off early listlessness to move into the green in afternoon trade.

The Dow added 28.68 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 33,978.08, while the NASDAQ jumped 109.31 points or 0.95 percent to end at 11,621.71 and the S&P 500 rose 10.13 points or 0.25 percent to close at 4,070.56.

For the week, the NASDAQ soared 4.3 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.5 percent and the Dow jumped 1.8 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy meeting this week. The Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes to 25 basis points, but traders will look to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for further rate hikes.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal income increased in line with estimates in December, while personal spending eased in line with expectations. The report also said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose more than expected.

A separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed an unexpected rebound in pending home sales in December, while the University of Michigan upwardly revised its reading on consumer sentiment in January.

Crude oil prices fell Friday amid uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand. Profit taking after recent gains and indications that oil supply from Russia will surge also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March sank $1.33 or 1.6 percent at $79.68 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 2.4 percent in the week.