Thai Bourse May Open Under Pressure On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up just 3 points or 0.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,385-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky to lower, weighed by pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the technology, service, industrial and consumption sectors were mitigated by support from the finance and resource stocks.

For the day, the index eased 1.00 point or 0.07 percent to finish at 1,386.27 after trading between 1,383.38 and 1,397.05. Volume was 17.989 billion shares worth 43.597 billion baht. There were 327 decliners and 152 gainers, with 174 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info strengthened 1.43 percent, while Thailand Airport dipped 0.39 percent, Asset World plunged 2.48 percent, Banpu increased 0.85 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.36 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.89 percent, Bangkok Expressway perked 0.66 percent, B. Grimm dropped 0.86 percent, CP All Public gathered 0.92 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 1.68 percent, Energy Absolute tumbled 1.92 percent, Gulf rose 0.58 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.84 percent, Krung Thai Bank rallied 1.29 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.58 percent, PTT Oil & Retail spiked 1.66 percent, PTT soared 2.88 percent, PTT Exploration and Production and Siam Commercial Bank both jumped 1.97 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.67 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.82 percent, Siam Concrete added 0.38 percent, Thai Oil accelerated 1.74 percent, True Corporation gained 1.57 percent, TTB Bank improved 1.63 percent and BTS Group was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and spent most of the session in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow dropped 145.11 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 38,627.99, while the NASDAQ tumbled 130.55 points or 0.82 percent to close at 15,775.65 and the S&P 500 sank 24.16 points or 0.48 percent to end at 5,005.57.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in January.

Following last week's hotter-than expected consumer price inflation figures, the data added to concerns the Federal Reserve will postpone cutting interest rates longer than investors had hoped.

However, the negative sentiment was partly offset by a separate report from the University of Michigan showing an uptick in consumer sentiment in February.

Oil price climbed higher on Friday, lifting the most active WTI Crude futures to a 11-week high, on concerns about potential supply disruptions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.16 at $79.19 a barrel.