Continued Support Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market rebounded on Friday, one session after halting the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 20 points or 1.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,610-point plateau and it's predicted to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on good inflation news and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the resource stocks and weakness from the financial sector.

For the day, the index rose 3.75 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 1,609.17 after trading between 1,605.55 and 1,614.09. Volume was 13.841 billion shares worth 43.181 billion baht. There were 907 decliners and 607 gainers, with 450 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.47 percent, while Asset World advanced 0.87 percent, Bangkok Bank plunged 2.26 percent, Bangkok Expressway tumbled 1.67 percent, B. Grimm gained 0.62 percent, BTS Group rallied 1.43 percent, CP All Public fell 0.40 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.93 percent, Energy Absolute strengthened 1.67 percent, Gulf shed 0.47 percent, Kasikornbank sank 0.75 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.20 percent, Krung Thai Card collected 0.46 percent, PTT Oil & Retail jumped 1.91 percent, PTT perked 0.80 percent, PTT Exploration and Production shed 0.66 percent, PTT Global Chemical skidded 1.08 percent, SCG Packaging weakened 1.07 percent, Thai Oil slumped 0.94 percent, True Corporation soared 1.82 percent, TTB Bank tanked 2.07 percent and Bangkok Dusit Medical, Thailand Airport, Siam Commercial Bank, Siam Concrete and Banpu were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 415.15 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,274.15, while the NASDAQ jumped 208.41 points or 1.73 percent to end at 12,221.91 and the S&P 500 rallied 58.48 points or 1.44 percent to close at 4,109.31.

For the week, the S&P soared 3.5 percent, the NASDAQ accelerated 3.4 percent and the Dow climbed 3.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth.

With this inflation reading said to be preferred by the Fed, the data led to some optimism the central bank will hold off on raising interest rates at its next meeting in early May.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on falling supplies and optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.30 or 1.8 percent at $75.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9.2 percent in the week but dropped 1.8 percent in March and 6 percent in Q1.