Thai Stock Market May Stop The Bleeding On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, dropping almost 30 points or 2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,620-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after days of selling as recession fears may already be priced in. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index dipped 1.79 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,620.49 after trading between 1,615.06 and 1,625.90. Volume was 11.647 billion shares worth 42.658 billion baht. There were 814 decliners and 642 gainers, with 595 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World rallied 2.46 percent, while Banpu sank 0.75 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway strengthened 1.59 percent, B. Grimm shed 0.66 percent, BTS Group added 0.60 percent, Gulf gained 0.47 percent, IRPC lost 0.67 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.35 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.57 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 1.28 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slid 0.41 percent, PTT retreated 1.55 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tumbled 1.99 percent, PTT Global Chemical increased 0.54 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.96 percent, Siam Concrete was up 0.30 percent, Thai Oil declined 0.46 percent, TTB Bank slumped 0.72 percent and Advanced Info, Thailand Airport, Bangkok Bank, CP All Public, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Energy Absolute, SCG Packaging and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 183.56 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 33,781.48, while the NASDAQ rallied 123.45 points or 1.13 percent to end at 11,082.00 and the S&P 500 added 29.59 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,963.51.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders picked up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the sell-off seen to start the week, which reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the economy.

Traders will be looking for signs of a slowdown in producer price inflation later today, as well as a reduction in inflation expectations amid concerns the Federal Reserve will need to push the economy into a prolonged recession in order to bring inflation down close to its 2 percent target.

The Labor Department reported that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly higher last week.

Crude oil showed a notable downturn over the course of the trading day on Thursday as traders remain concerned about the outlook for energy demand amid the possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery slid $0.55 or 0.8 percent to $71.46 a barrel.