Thai Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Monday

Ahead of Friday’s holiday for Constitution Day, the Thai stock market has halted the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 30 points or 1.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,620-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral as it catches up on mixed sentiment.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on easing virus concerns and support from crude oil. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index eased 0.13 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 1,618.23 after trading between 1,612.57 and 1,623.82. Volume was 28.290 billion shares worth 69.711 billion baht. There were 1,016 decliners and 551 gainers, with 559 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tumbled 1.82 percent, while Thailand Airport shed 0.40 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.42 percent, Bangkok Expressway added 0.58 percent, CP All Public dropped 0.85 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.25 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.49 percent, Gulf gained 0.62 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.09 percent, Krung Thai Bank sank 0.80 percent, Krung Thai Card rose 0.44 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 0.97 percent, PTT Exploration and Production improved 0.43 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.43 percent, SCG Packaging slid 0.40 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.53 percent, True Corporation surrendered 1.29 percent, TTB Bank spiked 1.56 percent and Bangkok Dusit Medical, BTS Group, IRPC, PTT and Siam Commercial Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday, ebbed towards the break but rebounded to finish firmly higher.

The Dow jumped 216.30 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 35.970.99, while the NASDAQ climbed 113.23 points or 0.73 percent to end at 15,630.60 and the S&P 500 gained 44.57 points or 0.95 percent to close at 4,712.02. For the week, the Dow spiked 4 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 3.6 percent and the S&P jumped 3.8 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came even after the Labor Department released a report showing U.S. consumer prices surged at the fastest annual rate of in nearly 40 years in November.

While the elevated rate of inflation may lead the Federal Reserve to accelerate the pace of tapering its asset purchases next week, traders seemed relieved that the price growth was not even faster.

A separate report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. unexpectedly improved in early December.

Crude oil futures settled higher Friday on easing worries about the Omicron coronavirus variant’s impact on global economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.73 or 1 percent at $71.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 8.2 percent in the week, the best weekly returns since end August.