Thai Stock Market May See Profit Taking On Friday

The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, jumping more than 30 points or 2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,580-point plateau although the rally may stall on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key inflation data from the United States later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares and energy producers.

For the day, the index advanced 14.38 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 1,582.96 after trading between 1,568.89 and 1,587.54. Volume was 34.426 billion shares worth 175.296 billion baht. There were 964 gainers and 720 decliners, with 438 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.30 percent, while Thailand Airport soared 3.28 percent, Asset World rallied 2.11 percent, Bangkok Asset Management spiked 2.73 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.44 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical jumped 1.90 percent, Bangkok Expressway surged 4.61 percent, B. Grimm skyrocketed 7.23 percent, BTS Group accelerated 3.04 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.92 percent, Gulf gathered 3.03 percent, Kasikornbank tanked 2.02 percent, Krung Thai Bank gained 0.93 percent, Krung Thai Card plummeted 11.45 percent, Land & Houses improved 2.55 percent, PTT Exploration and Production skidded 1.27 percent, PTT Global Chemical rose 0.40 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 2.20 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dropped 0.96 percent, Siam Concrete increased 0.92 percent and TTB Bank, PTT Oil & Retail and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is conflicted as the Dow and S&P both opened in the green on Friday and finished the same way, while the NASDAQ saw a soft start and ended barely lower.

The Dow climbed 141.59 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 34,464.64, while the NASDAQ eased 1.72 points or 0.01 percent to close at 13,736.28 and the S&P 500 rose 4.89 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,200.88.

The lackluster performance came as traders continued to look ahead to a highly anticipated reading on inflation later today. The inflation reading is said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve and could have a significant impact on the outlook for monetary policy.

Traders were also digesting a report from the Labor Department showing weekly jobless claims once again fell to a new pandemic-era low. The continued decrease in jobless claims paints a positive picture of the labor market but also raised concerns that the Fed will move closer to tapering its asset purchases in the near future.

Also, the Commerce Department showed an unexpected pullback in durable goods orders in April, and a separate report noted that the pace of U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was unrevised from the advance estimate.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Thursday, extending gains to a fifth straight session on following a drop in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up $0.64 or 1 percent at $66.85 a barrel.

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