Thai Shares Tipped To Snap Losing Streak

The Thai stock market has moved lower in back-to-back trading says, slipping more than a dozen points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,555-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected to provide a boost, especially among oversold technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the energy producers were offset by support from the financial shares.

For the day, the index lost 7.70 points or 0.49 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,554.54 after peaking at 1,568.72. Volume was 32.863 billion shares worth 90.007 billion baht. There were 1,077 decliners and 515 gainers, with 517 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.29 percent, while Thailand Airport dropped 0.82 percent, Asset World advanced 0.84 percent, Bangkok Asset Management climbed 1.65 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.43 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical added 0.48 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.97 percent, BTS Group spiked 2.34 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 0.90 percent, PTT declined 1.89 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tanked 2.93 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.76 percent, SCG Packaging lost 0.87 percent, Siam Commercial Bank gained 0.50 percent, Siam Concrete was down 0.45 percent, TTB Bank improved 0.90 percent and Gulf, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and picked up steam as the day progressed, cutting into the losses from the previous two days.

The Dow jumped 188.11 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 34,084.15, while the NASDAQ spiked 236.00 points or 1.77 percent to end at 13,535.74 and the S&P 500 advanced 43.44 points or 1.06 percent to close at 4,159.12.

The support on Wall Street came in reaction to the sell-off in the previous session, with upbeat earnings and optimism about global economic recovery helping to offset inflation worries and fears about monetary easing.

In economic news, the Labor Department said unemployment claims in the U.S. dropped last week to their lowest since the week ended March 14. Also, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index fell in May from a 50-year high in April.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday, extending losses to a third straight day as signs of progress in Iran nuclear talks raised expectations that global crude supply will see a surge in the near term. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down by $1.31 or 2.1 percent at $62.05 a barrel on the expiration day.

Closer to home, Thailand will release April numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In March, imports were up 14.12 percent on year and exports gained an annual 8.47 percent for a trade surplus of $0.71 billion.