Higher Open Expected For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 40 points or 2.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,570-point plateau and it’s looking at a green light again for Friday’s trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, with optimism for economic recovery offset by the latest coronavirus surge in Japan and India. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index jumped 22.69 points or 1.46 percent to finish at 1,571.91 after trading between 1,551.42 and 1,575.37. Volume was 31.700 billion shares worth 91.321 billion baht. There were 986 gainers and 647 decliners, with 418 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport jumped 1.67 percent, while Asset World rallied 3.03 percent, Bangkok Asset Management tumbled 1.97 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway added 0.64 percent, Gulf sank 0.74 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.79 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 0.85 percent, PTT perked 0.63 percent, PTT Exploration and Production climbed 1.70 percent, PTT Global Chemical gathered 1.50 percent, SCG Packaging soared 2.31 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.50 percent, Siam Concrete surged 2.60 percent and TMB Bank, Advanced Info, Bangkok Bank, BTS Group, Charoen Pokphand Foods and Krung Thai Bank all were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks shrugged off early weakness on Thursday to finish in the green.

The Dow jumped 318.19 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 34,548.53, while the NASDAQ gained 50.42 points or 0.37 percent to end at 13,632.84 and the S&P 500 climbed 34.03 points or 0.82 percent to close at 4,201.62.

The strength on Wall Street followed a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell much more than expected last week.

Later today, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for April.

Crude oil futures finished lower on Thursday, extending losses from previous session amid worries about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $0.92 or 1.4 percent at $64.71 a barrel.