Thai Bourse May Reclaim 1,200-Point Level

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Thursday's Labor Day holiday, the Thai stock market had moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 50 points or 4.2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,200-point plateau and it's expected to tick higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from the oil and technology companies in particular. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rallied 26.14 point or 2.23 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,197.26 after trading as low as 1,169.23. Volume was 10.834 billion shares worth 54.394 billion baht. There were 275 gainers and 202 decliners, with 183 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info strengthened 3.87 percent, while Thailand Airport added 2.00 percent, Banpu climbed 1.42 percent, Bangkok Bank spiked 2.56 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical picked up 2.56 percent, BTS Group gained 2.64 percent, CP All Public was up 2.49 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 1.92 percent, Gulf expanded 3.70 percent, Kasikornbank accelerated 3.24 percent, Krung Thai Bank soared 3.81 percent, Krung Thai Card rose 0.54 percent, PTT Oil & Retail increased 2.11 percent, PTT advanced 0.81 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gathered 1.53 percent, PTT Global Chemical improved 2.37 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.71 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rallied 1.71 percent, Siam Concrete surged 5.61 percent, True Corporation gained 0.87 percent, TTB Bank collected 1.67 percent and Asset World, B. Grimm, Energy Absolute and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session, although they came well off the day's highs.

The Dow improved 83.60 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 40,752.96, while the NASDAQ rallied 264.40 points or 1.52 percent to close at 17,710.74 and the S&P 500 added 35.08 points or 0.63 percent to end at 5,604.14.

The early rally on Wall Street came in reaction to upbeat earnings news from software giant Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META), both of which exceeded expectations.

Buying interest waned as the day progressed, however, as traders digested some disappointing economic data, including a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for jobless benefits rose much more than expected last week.

Crude oil saw considerable volatility Thursday but moved sharply higher after President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on any country that purchases Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped $1.03 or 1.8 percent to $59.24 a barrel.