Thai Stock Market May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Friday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than a dozen points or 1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,120-point plateau although it may head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on lingering trade concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index advanced 10.73 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 1,121.13 after trading between 1,115.47 and 1,130.28. Volume was 7.969 billion shares worth 32.367 billion baht. There were 329 gainers and 110 decliners, with 198 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info improved 0.70 percent, while Thailand Airport skyrocketed 4.10 percent, Banpu rallied 2.93 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.35 percent, B. Grimm accelerated 2.91 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods slumped 1.37 percent, Energy Absolute increased 0.86 percent, Gulf added 0.63 percent, Krung Thai Card surged 4.84 percent, PTT Oil & Retail expanded 3.64 percent, PTT gained 0.83 percent, PTT Exploration and Production advanced 0.93 percent, PTT Global Chemical soared 5.03 percent, SCG Packaging retreated 1.21 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.43 percent, Siam Concrete spiked 3.23 percent, Thai Oil strengthened 1.77 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.91 percent and TTB Bank, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, Asset World, CP All Public, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained under water for almost the entire session.

The Dow dropped 279.09 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 44,371.51, while the NASDAQ sank 45.17 points or 0.22 percent to close at 20,585.53 and the S&P 500 lost 20.71 points or 0.33 percent to end at 6,259.75.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid renewed concerns about President Donald Trump's escalating trade battles.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, amidst a lack of major economic data and ahead of earnings season this coming week.

Crude oil rose sharply on Friday after the International Energy Agency upwardly revised its oil supply forecast and also buoyed by lingering geopolitical risks in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed up $1.88 to settle at $68.45 per barrel.