Win Streak May Continue For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than a dozen points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,370-point plateau and it's tipped to open to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on growing optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the resource, service and technology stocks were offset by weakness from the finance, industry and property sectors.

For the day, the index perked 1.61 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 1,372.16 after trading between 1,364.92 and 1,377.57. Volume was 17.192 billion shares worth 39.425 billion baht. There were 239 gainers and 232 decliners, with 184 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info surged 2,43 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.39 percent, Banpu tumbled 1.80 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.35 percent, B. Grimm advanced 0.92 percent, CP All Public rallied 1.30 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.54 percent, Energy Absolute declined 0.72 percent, Gulf gained 0.58 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.41 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.25 percent, Krung Thai Card and PTT Oil & Retail both lost 0.56 percent, PTT improved 0.73 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.67 percent, Siam Commercial Bank slid 0.44 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 0.75 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 3.81 percent, True Corporation strengthened 1.36 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.54 percent and SCG Packaging, Asset World, PTT Exploration and Production, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained solidly in the green throughout the session, with the S&P and NASDAQ hitting fresh closing highs.

The Dow climbed130.30 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 38,791.35, while the NASDAQ surged 2.41.83 points or 1.51 percent to end at 16,273.38 and the S&P 500 rallied 52.60 points or 1.03 percent to close at 5,157.36.

The extended rebound on Wall Street came on optimism about the outlook for interest rates after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress on Thursday that rate cuts "can and will" begin this year.

Adding to the optimism about interest rates, the European Central Bank lowered its annual inflation forecast while announcing its widely expected decision to leave rates unchanged.

Potentially adding to the buying interest on Wall Street, treasury yields saw further downside on the day, with the ten-year yield falling to its lowest closing level in a month.

Oil prices drifted lower on Thursday amid some concerns about the outlook for demand, although the downside was limited by a weaker greenback. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.20 or 0.3 percent at $78.93 a barrel.