Thai Bourse May Test Resistance At 1,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, advancing almost 20 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,385-point plateau and it may extend its winnings streak on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following strong U.S. employment data, even though it dims the possibility of an interest rate hike next month. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index climbed 16.12 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 1,384.08 after trading between 1,375.37 and 1,386.67. Volume was 26.903 billion shares worth 45.183 billion baht. There were 327 gainers and 153 decliners, with 174 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.45 percent, while Thailand Airport was up 1.62 percent, Asset World and PTT Exploration and Production both advanced 1.00 percent, Banpu gathered 1.60 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical and B. Grimm both added 1.82 percent, Bangkok Expressway shed 0.68 percent, BTS Group dropped 0.85 percent, CP All Public skyrocketed 2.84 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods accelerated 2.16 percent, Energy Absolute surged 2.55 percent, Gulf gained 1.74 percent, Kasikornbank strengthened 1.67 percent, Krung Thai Bank improved 1.26 percent, Krung Thai Card rallied 2.31 percent, PTT Oil & Retail perked 0.56 percent, PTT sank 0.73 percent, PTT Global Chemical soared 2.21 percent, SCG Packaging increased 0.79 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.48 percent, Siam Concrete climbed 1.10 percent, Thai Oil was up 0.46 percent, True Corporation spiked 1.64 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.56 percent and Bangkok Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but consistently trended upward and finished well into the green, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 134.62 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 38,654.42, while the NASDAQ surged 267.35 points or 1.74 percent to end at 15,628.95 and the S&P 500 jumped 52.42 points or 1.07 percent to close at 4,958.61. For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 1.1 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both jumped 1.4 percent.

The extended rally on Wall Street came amid a positive reaction to earnings news from Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN).

Traders were also reacting to the closely watched report from the Labor Department showing much stronger than expected job growth in January.

The data further reduces the chances of an interest rate cut in March, but a strong jobs market is viewed as a good thing for the stock market and the economy.

Oil prices fell sharply on Friday as hopes of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded after data showed a bigger than expected increase in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in January. The dollar's sharp uptick after the jobs data also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $1.54 or about 2.1 percent at $72.28 a barrel. The contract shed more than 7 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to provide January numbers for consumer prices later today, with overall inflation expected to sink 0.82 percent on year after falling 0.83 percent in December. Core CPI is seen higher by an annual 0.57 percent, easing from 0.58 percent in the previous month.