Thai Stock Market May Extend Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days in which it had picked up more than 40 points or 3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,360-point plateau and it may see mild upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets finished slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the services, technology and property stocks were offset by weakness from the financials, industrials and resource companies.

For the day, the index rose 1.66 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 1,359.07 after trading between 1,355.46 and 1,367.09. Volume was 9.963 billion shares worth 60.077 billion baht. There were 284 gainers and 191 decliners, with 187 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.41 percent, while Asset World plummeted 5.14 percent, Bangkok Bank sank 0.70 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 2.55 percent, B. Grimm declined 1.46 percent, BTS Group dropped 0.93 percent, CP All Public strengthened 1.26 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.40 percent, Energy Absolute stumbled 1.49 percent, Gulf dipped 0.49 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.35 percent, Krung Thai Bank tanked 2.14 percent, Krung Thai Card surrendered 2.34 percent, PTT Oil & Retail weakened 0.64 percent, PTT Exploration and Production eased 0.35 percent, SCG Packaging retreated 1.62 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete rallied 2.68 percent, Thai Oil tumbled 1.40 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.98 percent, TTB Bank slid 0.54 percent and PTT Global Chemical, Banpu, PTT, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday, faded midday but rallied going into the close.

The Dow climbed 228.03 points or 0.55 percent to finish at a fresh record 41,563.08, while the NASDAQ spiked 197.20 points or 1.13 percent to end at 17,713.62 and the S&P 500 gained 56.44 points or 1.01 percent to close at 5,648.40. For the week, the NASDAQ shed 0.9 percent, the Dow added 0.9 percent and the S&P rose 0.2 percent.

The higher close on Wall Street followed the Commerce Department report on U.S. consumer price inflation that is said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. The report showed consumer prices increased in line with estimates in July, while the annual rate of price growth was unexpectedly flat.

While the data has reinforced expectations of an interest rate cut by the Fed this month, traders expressed uncertainty about the pace of rate cuts, leading to some volatility in the markets.

According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, there is a 69.5 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut next month and a 30.5 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

Crude oil showed a significant move to the downside on Friday on reports that OPEC is set to proceed with a planned oil output hike from October. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery plunged $2.36 or 3.1 percent to $73.55 a barrel.