Little Movement Expected For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slipping more than a dozen points or 0.8 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,370-point plateau and it may spin its wheels again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of earnings news and a FOMC rate decision and statement later this week. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, finance, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index shed 7.94 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 1,368.15 after trading between 1,364.41 and 1,379.89. Volume was 27.675 billion shares worth 48.314 billion baht. There were 271 decliners and 185 gainers, with 183 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info stumbled 0.92 percent, while Thailand Airport slid 0.42 percent, Asset World slumped 1.03 percent, Banpu gained 0.77 percent, Bangkok Bank surrendered 2.44 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tanked 1.80 percent, Bangkok Expressway collected 0.68 percent, B. Grimm advanced 0.92 percent, BTS Group was down 0.74 percent, CP All Public tumbled 1.89 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 1.67 percent, Energy Absolute rallied 1.31 percent, Gulf and Krung Thai Card both lost 0.57 percent, Kasikornbank sank 0.81 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.23 percent, PTT Oil & Retail fell 0.55 percent, PTT weakened 0.73 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dipped 0.33 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.79 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete improved 0.75 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.11 percent and PTT Global Chemical, True Corporation and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday, surged midday but plummeted late in the section to end mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 60.33 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 38,109.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 55.14 points or 0.36 percent to close at 15,455.36 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.19 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,890.97. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1 percent, the NASDAQ advanced 0.9 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders weighed disappointing earnings news from semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) against tamer than expected consumer price inflation data.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth in December.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy announcement this week. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the timing of highly anticipated rate cuts.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday amid optimism about the outlook for oil demand thanks to upbeat U.S. economic data and the Chinese central bank’s fresh stimulus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March added $0.65 or 0.84 percent at $78.01 a barrel. WTI crude futures spiked 6 percent for the week.