Renewed Consolidation Likely For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market rebounded on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 35 points or 2.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,430-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on soaring crude oil prices and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index climbed 15.54 points or 1.10 percent to finish at 1,432.99 after trading between 1,419.88 and 1,435.23. Volume was 10.581 billion shares worth 68.604 billion baht. There were 355 gainers and 127 decliners, with 168 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info expanded 1.06 percent, while Thailand Airport perked 1.56 percent, Asset World strengthened 1.51 percent, Banpu gained 1.65 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.22 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gathered 2.72 percent, Bangkok Expressway increased 1.94 percent, B. Grimm spiked 1.89 percent, BTS Group was up 1.00 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods soared 3.59 percent, Energy Absolute added 2.38 percent, Gulf surged 2.71 percent, Kasikornbank vaulted 1.34 percent, Krung Thai Bank improved 073 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rose 1.80 percent, PTT dropped 0.73 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.65 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.78 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 3.98 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 1.04 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.93 percent, Thai Oil fell 0.54 percent, True Corporation accelerated 2.17 percent and TTB Bank, Krung Thai Card and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Friday and continued to weaken as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 443.96 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 45,577.47, while the NASDAQ plunged 443.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 21,647.61 and the S&P 500 sank 100.01 points or 1.51 percent to end at 6,506.48. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 2.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.9 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid continued volatility by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions and showed wild swings over the course of the day.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday as fresh attacks on Kuwait by Iran renewed concerns of a prolonged gulf war, stoking production disruption worries. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up by $1.68 or 1.75 percent at $97.82 per barrel.

Oil prices remain sharply higher compared to when the war began, fueling concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates. CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates the Federal Reserve is not likely to cut interest rates this year and there's a chance rates could even be higher by the end of the year.