Higher Open Predicted For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market inched higher again on Thursday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 20 points or 1.4 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,480-point plateau and it may pick up steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to rising crude oil prices and solid economic data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index rose 1.23 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,482.98 after trading between 1,477.88 and 1,492.39. Volume was 28.307 billion shares worth 77.840 billion baht. There were 893 decliners and 594 gainers, with 475 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.58 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.40 percent, Asset World soared 4.24 percent, Bangkok Asset Management advanced 0.97 percent, Bangkok Bank surged 4.78 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.96 percent, BTS Group added 0.53 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods sank 0.92 percent, Gulf skidded 1.48 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.12 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 1.40 percent, PTT Global Chemical jumped 1.22 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.26 percent, Siam Concrete slid 0.53 percent and TMB Bank, Krung Thai Bank, PTT and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks opened higher on Thursday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 332.26 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 31,055.86, while the NASDAQ climbed 167.20 points or 1.23 percent to end at 13,777.74 and the S&P 500 gained 41.57 points or 1.09 percent to close at 3,871.74.

Easing concerns about speculative trading have helped drive the markets higher along with mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a continued decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Traders have recently taken an optimistic view toward most economic data, seeing upbeat data as a positive for the economy while seeing disappointing data as putting pressure on lawmakers to pass more stimulus.

Crude oil futures were up Thursday for the fourth straight session on continued optimism that crude oil supplies will drop thanks to OPEC’s move to reduce output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.54 or 1 percent at $56.23 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release January data for consumer prices later today, with overall inflation expected to slip 0.4 percent on year after easing 0.27 percent in December. Core CPI is tipped to add 0.2 percent on year after rising 0.19 percent in the previous month.