Thai Stock Market May Head South Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had improved more than 20 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,355-point plateau although it figures to see renewed consolidation on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the food, industrial, property, resources and technology sectors.

For the day, the index improved 9.90 points or 0.74 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,354.07 after trading as low as 1,344.62.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 1.41 percent, while Thailand Airport slumped 1.32 percent, Asset World strengthened 1.30 percent, Banpu spiked 2.91 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.97 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical fell 0.42 percent, B. Grimm added 0.64 percent, BTS Group was up 5.13 percent, CP All Public rose 0.45 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods accelerated 3.26 percent, Energy Absolute increased 1.38 percent, Gulf gained 1.26 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.31 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.44 percent, Krung Thai Card advanced 0.97 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gathered 0.87 percent, PTT perked 0.82 percent, PTT Exploration and Production climbed 1.24 percent, PTT Global Chemical skyrocketed 8.21 percent, SCG Packaging jumped 1.83 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.41 percent, Siam Concrete soared 4.00 percent, Thai Oil surged 5.88 percent, True Corporation improved 1.72 percent and TTB Bank and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened barely higher on Friday but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the session in the red.

The Dow stumbled 140.85 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 44,424.25, while the NASDAQ sank 99.40 points or 0.50 percent to close at 19,954.30 and the S&P 500 fell 17.47 points or 0.29 percent to end at 6,101.24. For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow surged 2.2 percent and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 both jumped 1.7 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week.

Recent economic data has led to concerns about the Fed leaving rates on hold for a prolonged period, but many economists still expect the central bank to resume cutting rates sometime in the first half of the year.

On U.S. economic front, data from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated by more than estimated in January. Also, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales jumped much more than expected in December

Oil futures were roughly flat on Friday, continuing to look for support after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell less than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $74.66 a barrel to snap a six-day losing streak. WTI crude futures lost 3 percent in the week.