Additional Support Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has climbed higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 35 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,500-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to better than expected inflation data. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the energy, industrial, food, technology, property and financial sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 23.53 points or 1.59 percent to finish at 1,503.10 after trading between 1,487.74 and 1,506.19. Volume was 15.291 billion shares worth 56.925 billion baht. There were 378 gainers and 108 decliners, with 155 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info strengthened 1.42 percent, while Thailand Airport added 1.05 percent, Asset World improved 2.07 percent, Banpu climbed 2.31 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.92 percent, Bangkok Expressway accelerated 2.40 percent, B. Grimm advanced 0.72 percent, CP All Public gained 2.46 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 2.07 percent, Energy Absolute strengthened 1.79 percent, Gulf surged 4.47 percent, Kasikornbank collected 1.17 percent, Krung Thai Bank rallied 2.11 percent, Krung Thai Card spiked 2.59 percent, PTT Oil & Retail soared 3.41 percent, PTT advanced 2.29 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gained 1.01 percent, PTT Global Chemical soared 2.76 percent, SCG Packaging climbed 1.36 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rallied 1.91 percent, Siam Concrete added 0.63 percent, Thai Oil rose 0.57 percent, True Corporation skyrocketed 3.97 percent, TTB Bank surged 3.33 percent and Bangkok Dusit Medical and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the day, closing near session highs.

The Dow jumped 285.20 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 34,407.60, while the NASDAQ rallied 196.62 points or 1.45 percent to end at 13,787.92 and the S&P 500 climbed 53.94 points or 1.23 percent to close at 4,450.38.

For the week, the S&P 500 spiked 2.4 percent, the NASDAQ shot up 2.2 percent and the Dow leapt 2.0 percent. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 also posted substantial gains for the first half of 2023.

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

While economists generally still expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by another quarter point this month, the data added to optimism the central bank will not follow through with additional rate hikes.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains, as a drop in U.S. crude inventories continued to support the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.78 or 1.1 percent at $70.64 a barrel. However, WTI Crude futures shed about 12 percent in H1 and more than 6 percent in Q2.