Win Streak May End For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 20 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,290-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as the U.S. government shutdown continues. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly higher again on Friday following gains from the food, finance, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index improved 5.32 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 1,293.61 after trading between 1,286.27 and 1,300.05. Volume was 8.053 billion shares worth 35.659 billion baht. There were 325 decliners and 135 gainers, with 197 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.34 percent, while Thailand Airport soared 4.19 percent, Asset World tanked 2.61 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.49 percent, Bangkok Expressway advanced 0.95 percent, B. Grimm and PTT Oil & Retail both sank 0.71 percent, BTS Group slumped 1.28 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods strengthened 1.35 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 7.60 percent, Gulf shed 0.57 percent, Krung Thai Card and Krung Thai Bank both collected 0.81 percent, PTT Global Chemical dropped 0.99 percent, SCG Packaging stumbled 2.12 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.44 percent, Thai Oil improved 1.41 percent, True Corporation rallied 2.75 percent, TTB Bank added 0.53 percent and Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Banpu, PTT, PTT Exploration and Production and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Friday but went off in different directions to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 238.58 points or 0.51 percent to finish at a record 46,758.28, while the NASDAQ sank 63.59 points or 0.28 percent to end at 22,780.51 and the S&P 500 perked 0.44 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,715.79, also a record. For the week, the NASDAQ rallied 1.3 percent, while the Dow and the S&P both rose 1.1 percent.

The NASDAQ sank on weakness from technology shares such as Palantir (PLTR), Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA).

The lackluster performance by the broader markets came as the ongoing U.S. government shutdown has led to the indefinite delay of key U.S. economic data, including Friday's closely watched monthly jobs report.

However, weak data from non-government sources has increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the coming months.

Crude oil prices advanced on Friday amid U.S. dollar weakness as the government shutdown persisted. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.41 or 0.68 percent at $60.89 per barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to release September figures for inflation later today; in August, overall inflation was down 0.79 percent on year and core CPI rose an annual 0.81 percent.