Thai Stock Market May Test Resistance At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 40 points or 2.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,590-point plateau although it's likely to move back to the upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing concerns over the health of financial sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the resource stocks.

For the day, the index eased 1.80 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,591.85 after trading between 1,588.25 and 1,599.78. Volume was 15.865 billion shares worth 44.955 billion baht. There were 888 decliners and 531 gainers, with 577 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport rose 0.35 percent, while Asset World stumbled 0.88 percent, Banpu declined 0.92 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.66 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical climbed 0.86 percent, Bangkok Expressway lost 0.58 percent, BTS Group improved 0.70 percent, CP All Public skidded 1.18 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tumbled 1.81 percent, Energy Absolute slipped 0.66 percent, Gulf advanced 0.95 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.59 percent, Krung Thai Card dropped 0.91 percent, PTT Oil & Retail retreated 1.41 percent, PTT dove 0.80 percent, PTT Exploration and Production improved 0.70 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.54 percent, SCG Packaging weakened 1.06 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.49 percent, Siam Concrete slumped 0.93 percent, Thai Oil was down 0.48 percent, True Corporation gained 1.18 percent, TTB Bank sank 0.72 percent and Kasikornbank, Advanced Info and B. Grimm were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages shook off early weakness, improving as the day progressed to finish solidly in the green.

The Dow climbed 132.33 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 32,237.53, while the NASDAQ added 36.56 points or 0.31 percent to close at 11,823.96 and the S&P 500 rose 22.27 points or 0.56 percent to end at 3,970.99.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.7 percent and the S&P gained 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street came on renewed concerns about the health of the banking sector. U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank (DB) moved sharply lower in early trading amid a spike by the German lender's credit default swaps, while Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS Group (UBS) also came under pressure.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders felt the banking concerns may have been overdone amid optimism the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its tightening cycle.

Crude oil prices fell on Friday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns that rising interest rates might hurt growth and result in a drop in energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.70 or 1 percent at $69.26 a barrel.