Continued Strength Forecast For Thai Shares

The Thai stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,400-point plateau and it’s expected to add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on rising optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, particularly among the food, finance, industrial, energy and technology sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 24.03 points or 1.74 percent to finish at 1,403.99 after trading between 1,391.54 and 1,407.81. Volume was 11.234 billion shares worth 44.383 billion baht. There were 457 gainers and 65 decliners, with 117 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info increased 1.42 percent, while Thailand Airport spiked 2.62 percent, Asset World soared 3.51 percent, Banpu advanced 1.32 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.94 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 1.27 percent, B. Grimm rallied 2.21 percent, BTS Group climbed 1.36 percent, CP All Public perked 1.80 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.54 percent, Energy Absolute accelerated 4.07 percent, Gulf gained 2.27 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.53 percent, Krung Thai Card surged 4.52 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rose 1.10 percent, PTT gathered 1.52 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.92 percent, PTT Global Chemical spiked 2.88 percent, SCG Packaging strengthened 1.42 percent, Siam Commercial Bank climbed 1.02 percent, Siam Concrete improved 1.39 percent, Thai Oil was up 2.15 percent, True Corporation jumped 1.65 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank and Kasikornbank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 564.50 points or 1.70 percent to finish at 33,839.08, while the NASDAQ jumped 232.72 points or 1.78 percent to end at 13,294.19 and the S&P 500 rallied 79.92 points of 1.89 percent to close at 4,317.78.

The rally on Wall Street came on optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed left rates unchanged for the third time in the past four meetings, suggesting the central bank is done raising interest rates.

Treasury yields moved notably lower Wednesday and showed another significant move to the downside today, adding to the buying interest.

Traders will look now to the Labor Department’s closely watched employment report for the month of October, due out later today.

Crude oil futures climbed higher Thursday as the dollar weakened on bets the Federal Reserve is done with its rate hiking cycle. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rallied $2.02 or 2.5 percent at $82.46 a barrel.