Thai Stock Market May Find Traction On Friday

The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 20 points or 1.4 percent long the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,380-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mostly positive, although technology companies may fall under pressure. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets also figure to move into the green.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the food, consumption, finance, industrial, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index shed 7.51 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 1,380.18 after trading between 1,371.74 and 1,390.04. Volume was 18.912 billion shares worth 76.195 billion baht. There were 374 decliners and 125 gainers, with 147 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport advanced 0.85 percent, while Asset World jumped 1.65 percent, Banpu stumbled 3.25 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 0.65 percent, B. Grimm plunged 5.61 percent, BTS Group rallied 2.11 percent, CP All Public gained 0.48 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods climbed 1.02 percent, Energy Absolute crashed 3.78 percent, Gulf fell 0.54 percent, Kasikornbank surrendered 2.66 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 1.09 percent, Krung Thai Card retreated 1.58 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 1.00 percent, PTT sank 0.71 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 0.98 percent, SCG Packaging lost 0.65 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.50 percent, Siam Concrete weakened 1.03 percent, Thai Oil added 0.49 percent, True Corporation plummeted 5.88 percent, TTB Bank tumbled 1.91 percent and Bangkok Bank, PTT Global Chemical, Advanced Info and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, with the Dow remaining solidly in the green throughout the session. The NASDAQ quickly turned lower and stayed in the red, while the S&P also fell into negative territory but staged a late rally into positive territory.

The Dow surged 520.47 points or 1.47 percent to finish at 35,950.89, while the NASDAQ slumped 32.27 points or 0.23 percent to close at 14,226.22 and the S&P 500 added 17.22 points or 0.38 percent to end at 4,567.80.

The surge by the Dow was due in large part to a spike by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud software company soaring by 9.4 percent after it reported better than expected fiscal third quarter earnings and provided upbeat guidance.

Meanwhile, the decrease by the NASDAQ came amid a rebound by treasury yields, as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note bounced off its lowest levels in over two months.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that consumer price growth in the U.S. slowed in line with estimates in October.

Oil prices tumbled on Thursday despite an announcement from OPEC that members have agreed to voluntarily output cuts for the first quarter of 2024. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended lower by $1.90 or 2.4 percent at $75.96 a barrel.