Thai Bourse: Support Expected At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday ended 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 above the 1,605-point plateau although it's expected to move back to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on easing concerns over the health of the banking sector. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and the resource stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 5.10 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 1,605.42. Volume was 16.727 billion shares worth 50.916 billion baht. There were 1,088 decliners and 428 gainers, with 479 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.47 percent, while Thailand Airport weakened 1.05 percent, Banpu stumbled 1.82 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.64 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.84 percent, Bangkok Expressway spiked 2.27 percent, B. Grimm was down 1.23 percent, BTS Group crashed 2.10 percent, CP All Public skidded 1.19 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.28 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 1.64 percent, Gulf slipped 0.93 percent, Kasikornbank sank 0.74 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.60 percent, Krung Thai Card slipped 0.46 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dove 0.95 percent, PTT retreated 1.57 percent, PTT Exploration and Production declined 1.30 percent, PTT Global Chemical slumped 1.07 percent, SCG Packaging surrendered 2.09 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dropped 0.97 percent, Siam Concrete tumbled 1.87 percent, Thai Oil eased 0.47 percent, True Corporation plunged 2.94 percent and TTB Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Thursday, faded as the day progressed but still ended well in positive territory.

The Dow jumped 141.43 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 32,859.03, while the NASDAQ gained 87.24 points or 0.73 percent to close at 12,013.47 and the S&P 500 added 23.02 points or 0.57 percent to end at 4,050.83.

The continued strength on Wall Street came as concerns about turmoil in the banking sector continued to ease after sparking substantial volatility on Wall Street in recent weeks.

Traders also looked ahead to today's report on personal income and spending, which includes a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve and could have an impact on the outlook for interest rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew slightly less than estimated in Q4 of 2022.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Thursday on easing concerns over turmoil in the banking sector and supply disruptions in Turkey. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.40 or 1.9 percent at $74.37 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide February data for current account later today; in January, the current account deficit was $2.00 billion.