Little Movement Expected For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 30 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,450-point plateau and it's likely to hold steady in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and fairly flat on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the food, finance, consumer and resource sectors.

For the day, the index rose 1.14 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,451.96 after trading between 1,448.21 and 1,454.97. Volume was 8.716 billion shares worth 43.733 billion baht. There were 245 decliners and 221 gainers, with 199 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 2.08 percent, while Thailand Airport sank 0.81 percent, Asset World shed 0.54 percent, Banpu retreated 1.69 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.33 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.97 percent, B. Grimm advanced 0.93 percent, BTS Group slumped 0.86 percent, CP All Public declined 1.56 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 3.74 percent, Gulf soared 2.77 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.65 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.49 percent, Krung Thai Card gained 0.52 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 4.69 percent, Siam Concrete perked 0.27 percent, True Corporation stumbled 2.48 percent, TTB Bank spiked 2.81 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Siam Commercial Bank, PTT Global Chemical, PTT Oil & Retail, PTT, PTT Exploration and Production, Thai Oil and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened higher on Friday, although the Dow was unable to hold its gains and the markets ended mixed.

The Dow slumped 123.18 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 44,642.52, while the NASDAQ rallied 159.07 points or 0.81 percent to close at 19,859.77 and the S&P 500 slipped 15.16 points or 0.25 percent to end at 6,090.27.

The Dow continued to clump amid a continued decline by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH) after that company's CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down last week.

But the NASDAQ and the S&P continued to benefit from a positive reaction to Friday's closely watched Labor Department report showing employment in the U.S. surged more than expected in November.

However, the report said the unemployment rate crept up to 4.2 percent in November from 4.1 percent in October, increasing confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another 25 basis points later this month.

Oil prices fell on Friday, weighed down by prospects of excess supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January shed $1.10 or 1.61 percent at $67.20 a barrel. WTI crude futures fell nearly 1 percent in the week.