Lower Open Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market inched higher again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had risen just over 5 points or 0.4 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,245-point plateau although it's likely to open in the red on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished barely higher on Friday as gains from the food, resource and service sectors were offset by weakness from the financial, industrial and technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 0.60 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 1,246.21 after trading between 1,240.67 and 1,252.50. Volume was 8.215 billion shares worth 48.515 billion baht. There were 261 gainers and 228 decliners, with 176 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.06 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.57 percent, Banpu tumbled 1.78 percent, Bangkok Bank plunged 3.72 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical added 0.43 percent, B. Grimm sank 0.79 percent, BTS Group spiked 3.33 percent, CP All Public fell 0.48 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods soared 3.21 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 2.14 percent, Gulf accelerated 3.41 percent, Kasikornbank stumbled 3.05 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.64 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 0.81 percent, PTT rallied 2.38 percent, PTT Exploration and Production improved 0.80 percent, PTT Global Chemical plummeted 4.69 percent, SCG Packaging declined 1.38 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skidded 1.18 percent, Siam Concrete slumped 1.05 percent, Thai Oil cratered 3.81 percent, TTB Bank dropped 1.01 percent and Krung Thai Card, Asset World, True Corporation and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened slightly lower on Friday but headed steadily lower throughout the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow plummeted 748.63 points or 1.69 percent to finish at 43,428.02, while the NASDAQ stumbled 438.36 points or 2.20 percent to close at 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 sank 104.39 points or 1.71 percent to 6,013.13. For the week, the Dow and the NASDAQ both dropped 2.5 percent, while the S&P tumbled 1.8 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than expected in February.

The substantial deterioration by consumer sentiment came amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations, which spiked to 4.3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since November 2023.

Oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil's decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.