Steady Start Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost a dozen points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,390-point plateau and it may tick slightly higher on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with technology stocks expected to provide support while energy shares may weigh. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished barely lower on Friday as losses from the financial and industrial sectors were offset by support from the service and technology stocks.

For the day, the index eased 0.23 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 1,388.37 after trading between 1,385.02 and 1,391.75. Volume was 9.749 billion shares worth 29.103 billion baht. There were 229 decliners and 223 gainers, with 203 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport rose 0.39 percent, while Asimar skyrocketed 30.08 percent, Banpu slumped 0.81 percent, Bangkok Bank sank 0.70 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical declined 0.89 percent, Bangkok Expressway advanced 0.68 percent, Begistics surged 9.09 percent, BTS Group was down 0.84 percent, CP All Public retreated 0.91 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.53 percent, Energy Absolute fell 0.63 percent, Gulf dipped 0.57 percent, Kasikornbank dropped 0.83 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.57 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 0.56 percent, PTT perked 0.72 percent, PTT Exploration and Production eased 0.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical improved 0.71 percent, SCG Packaging and True Corporation both weakened 0.78 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skidded 0.96 percent, Siam Concrete slipped 0.75 percent, Thai Credit Bank plummeted 5.17 percent, Thai Oil rallied 1.35 percent and TTB Bank, Asset World, Advanced Info and B. Grimm were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is a mixed bag as the major averages opened Friday on opposite sides of the line and finished the same way.

The Dow shed 54.61 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 38,671.69, while the NASDAQ rallied 196.96 points or 1.25 percent to end at 15,990.66 and the S&P 500 added 28.70 points or 0.57 percent to close at a record 5,026.70.

For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 2.3 percent and the S&P 500 jumped 1.4 percent, while the Dow inched 0.1 percent higher.

The strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to data from the Labor Department showing a modest downward revision to consumer price growth in December, which provided a jolt to tech stocks.

Outside of the tech sector, brokerage and retail stocks saw notable strength, while energy stocks moved to the downside despite a continued increase by the price of crude oil.

Crude oil prices shook off early weakness Friday to finish modestly higher, due to ongoing tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.62 at $76.84 a barrel, gaining for a fifth straight session. WTI crude futures jumped 6 percent in the week.