Thai Stock Market May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had slumped almost 50 points or 3.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,390-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on weak earnings and slightly higher inflation. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the food, finance, industrial, energy and technology sectors.

For the day, the index climbed 17.01 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 1,388.23 after trading between 1,366.19 and 1,390.79. Volume was 12.035 billion shares worth 41.253 billion baht. There were 329 gainers and 168 decliners, with 148 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info increased 0.93 percent, while Thailand Airport strengthened 1.52 percent, Asset World gained 0.57 percent, Banpu climbed 2.05 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.32 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tumbled 1.87 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.88 percent, B. Grimm shed 0.43 percent, BTS Group sank 0.67 percent, CP All Public fell 0.45 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods strengthened 1.65 percent, Energy Absolute gathered 1.12 percent, Gulf rose 0.58 percent, Kasikornbank jumped 1.93 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.53 percent, Krung Thai Card rallied 1.73 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 2.22 percent, PTT increased 2.29 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 4.41 percent, SCG Packaging spiked 2.13 percent, Siam Commercial Bank soared 2.83 percent, Siam Concrete improved 2.09 percent, Thai Oil climbed 1.05 percent, True Corporation advanced 2.36 percent, TTB Bank accelerated 1.82 percent and PTT Exploration and Production was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and finished the same way.

The Dow tumbled 366.71 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 32,417.59, while the NASDAQ added 47.41 points or 0.38 percent to close at 12,643.01 and the S&P 500 sank 19.86 points or 0.48 percent to end at 4,117.37.

For the week, the Dow dropped 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 slumped 2.5 percent and the NASDAQ stumbled 2.6 percent.

The rebound by the NASDAQ reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Amazon (AMZN) and semiconductor giant Intel (INTC), which beat estimates - while disappointing earnings from Chevron (CVX) weighed heavily on the Dow.

Traders were also digesting a Commerce Department report showing that consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in September, matching the increase in August. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday as tensions in the Middle East escalated with Israeli ground forces expanding operations in Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rose $2.33 or 2.8 percent at $85.54 a barrel. WTI crude futures posted a weekly loss of 3.6 percent.