Win Streak May Continue For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,530-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on better-than-expected inflation data from the United States. The European and U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the financial, service and energy stocks were offset by weakness from the industrial and technology sectors.

For the day, the index added 5.11 points or 0.33 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,533.41 after trading as low as 1,518.62. Volume was 12.421 billion shares worth 57.886 billion baht. There were 268 gainers and 187 decliners, with 186 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.45 percent, while Thailand Airport jumped 1.43 percent, Asset World strengthened 1.40 percent, Banpu spiked 2.13 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.87 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical accelerated 2.63 percent, B. Grimm plunged 2.65 percent, BTS Group tumbled 2.04 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods climbed 1.03 percent, Energy Absolute gained 0.86 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.49 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 1.05 percent, PTT Oil & Retail retreated 1.44 percent, PTT rallied 2.14 percent, PTT Exploration and Production soared 2.15 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.63 percent, SCG Packaging sank 0.64 percent, Siam Commercial Bank advanced 0.89 percent, Thai Oil surged 3.81 percent and True Corporation, TTB Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Concrete, Gulf, CP All Public and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Thursday but faded as the day progressed, ending just barely in the green.

The Dow added 52.79 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 35,176.15, while the NASDAQ gained 15.97 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,737.99 and the S&P 500 perked 1.12 points or 0.03 percent to end at 4,468.83.

The early rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing the annual rate of consumer price inflation accelerated less than expected in July.

While the data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month, economists suggested sticky core inflation could leave the door open for the Fed to resume raising rates in November.

Oil prices fell from multi-month highs Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China after imports plummeted. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.58 at $$82.82 a barrel.