Thai Stock Market Expected To See Additional Support

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in wo of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had fallen almost 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,645-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian bourses is positive after interest rate concerns resulted in oversold markets. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index advanced 11.97 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,643.52 after trading between 1,636.91 and 1,646.55. Volume was 19.634 billion shares worth 72.649 billion baht. There were 1,051 gainers and 634 decliners, with 559 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.26 percent, while Thailand Airport strengthened 1.40 percent, Banpu added 0.69 percent, Bangkok Bank spiked 1.83 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical jumped 1.79 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.57 percent, BTS Group gathered 0.60 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.96 percent, Energy Absolute rose 0.31 percent, Gulf climbed 1.02 percent, IRPC increased 0.57 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.96 percent, Krung Thai Bank perked 0.61 percent, Krung Thai Card rallied 1.69 percent, PTT Oil & Retail soared 1.89 percent, PTT Global Chemical jumped 1.06 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.88 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skyrocketed 5.74 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.28 percent, Thai Oil was up 0.83 percent, True Corporation slumped 1.29 percent, TTB Bank surged 3.20 percent and Asset World, B. Grimm, CP All Public, PTT and PTT Exploration and Production were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but quickly turned higher and maintained a largely positive bias throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow spiked 322.55 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 33,291.78, while the NASDAQ surged 207.74 points or 1.67 percent to end at 12,639.27 and the S&P 500 jumped 58.35 points or 1.41 percent to end at 4,199.12.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech in the Jackson Hole Symposium later today.

Powell is widely expected to reiterate the central bank's hawkish stance, given the expectations that inflation in the U.S. will be persistent and it will take time to contain it. That has already largely been priced into the markets, however.

On the economic front, the Labor Department said the U.S. economy contracted an annualized 0.6 percent in the second quarter, following a 1.6 percent drop a quarter earlier. Also, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped more than expected last week.

Crude oil futures settled lower Thursday, after posting gains in the previous two sessions. Oil prices fell as traders weighed the prospects for the return of Iranian oil to the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended lower by $2.37 or 2.5 percent at $92.52 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release July numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to rise 22.6 percent on year, slowing from 24.5 percent in June. Exports are called higher by an annual 11.15 percent, easing from 11.9 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is expected to show a deficit of $1.6 billion following the $1.53 billion shortfall a month earlier.