Thai Bourse Likely To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has ticked lower in two straight sessions, slipping more than a dozen points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,340-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 11.93 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 1,340.63 after trading between 1,338.84 and 1,356.33. Volume was 8.292 billion shares worth 37.576 billion baht. There were 359 decliners and 128 gainers, with 181 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info stumbled 2.07 percent, while Asset World retreated 1.26 percent, Banpu tumbled 1.92 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.66 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical was down 0.84 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped1.46 percent, B. Grimm tanked 3.97 percent, BTS Group cratered 4.31 percent, CP All Public gave up 0.89 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.45 percent, Energy Absolute crashed 10.76 percent, Gulf weakened 1.65 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.31 percent, Krung Thai Bank declined 1.34 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.83 percent, PTT dipped 0.81 percent, PTT Exploration and Production eased 0.38 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 4.87 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 5.68 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 0.41 percent, Thai Oil surrendered 2.75 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.82 percent, TTB Bank slid 0.55 percent and Krung Thai Card, Siam Concrete and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 334.73 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 43,487.83, while the NASDAQ rallied 291.90 points or 1.51 percent to close at 19.630.20 and the S&P 500 advanced 59.30 points or 1.00 percent to end at 5,996.66.

For the week, the Dow soared 3.7 percent, the S&P jumped 2.9 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 2.5 percent.

Stocks benefitted from the recent decrease by treasury yields even as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note recovered from an early slump to end the day roughly flat. The recent retreat by treasury yields came as the U.S. inflation data released over the past few days led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to the interest rate optimism, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC the central bank could lower interest rates multiple times this year if inflation eases as he is expecting.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Friday, extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was down $0.80 or 1 percent to $77.88 a barrel on Friday; for the week, crude rose about 1 percent.