Continued Support Predicted For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen almost 15 points or 1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,535-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is firm, supported by crude oil and optimism over interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow suit.

The SET finished barely higher on Thursday as gains from the energy producers were offset by weakness from the financials.

For the day, the index was up 0.15 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 1,537.78 after trading between 1,533.94 and 1,545.08. Volume was 25.630 billion shares worth 79.544 billion baht. There were 1,146 decliners and 565 gainers, with 456 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.42 percent, while Thailand Airport tanked 2.55 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.97 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical jumped 1.79 percent, Bangkok Expressway skidded 1.27 percent, BTS Group retreated 1.15 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.95 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.40 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tumbled 1.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.47 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.88 percent, SCG Packaging skyrocketed 6.18 percent, Siam Concrete improved 0.49 percent, TTB Bank sank 1.01 percent and Gulf, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, PTT and Siam Commercial Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 153.60 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 35,084.53, while the NASDAQ rose 15.68 points or 0.11 percent to end at 14,778.26 and the S&P 500 added 18.51 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,419.15.

The strength on Wall Street came despite some disappointing U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing economic growth fell well short of estimates in Q2.

The weaker than expected data may have added to optimism the Federal Reserve will not be in a hurry to begin scaling back its asset purchases.

Also, the Labor Department noted a modest pullback in initial jobless claims last week, while the National Association of Realtors reported an unexpected fall in pending home sales in June.

Crude oil futures settled higher Thursday as data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories continued to support oil prices – while a weak dollar also contributed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $1.23 or 1.7 percent at $73.62 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see May figures for retail sales and June data for current account and for its coincident index later today. In April, retail sales jumped 31.5 percent on year. In June, the current account deficit was $2.6 billion, while the coincident index had a score of 127.82.