Thai Stock Market Expected To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Friday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 30 points or 2.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,370-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative after strong U.S. employment data weighed heavily on the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets ended firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the food, resource and technology sectors, while the properties and consumer companies were soft.

For the day, the index added 5.02 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 1,367.99 after trading between 1,352.33 and 1,371.10. Volume was 11.349 billion shares worth 42.723 billion baht. There were 270 decliners and 220 gainers, with 178 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 2.54 percent, while Thailand Airport stumbled 1.27 percent, Asset World tanked 2.38 percent, Banpu climbed 0.97 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.33 percent, B. Grimm lost 0.58 percent, BTS Group surged 4.42 percent, CP All Public slid 0.41 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.92 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 7.10 percent, Gulf spiked 2.18 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.31 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.46 percent, Krung Thai Card strengthened 1.51 percent, PTT Oil & Retail declined 1.68 percent, PTT sank 0.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production accelerated 2.05 percent, PTT Global Chemical retreated 1.29 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.42 percent, True Corporation soared 2.75 percent and TTB Bank, SCG Packaging, Siam Concrete, Thai Oil, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 696.75 points or 1.63 percent to finish at 41,938.45, while the NASDAQ tumbled 317.27 points or 1.63 percent to close at 19,161.63 and the S&P 500 dropped 91.21 points or 1.54 percent to end at 5,827.04.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of buoyant non-farm payroll data, which raised concerns that the Federal Reserve will likely hold interest rates at current levels or slow down the pace of reductions.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data is also likely to give the Federal Reserve confidence in its plan to gradually lower interest rates over the coming year.

Oil prices rose sharply on Friday, riding on the Biden Administration's decision to impose additional sanctions on Russia's oil exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed higher by $2.65 or 3.6 percent at $76.57 a barrel, the highest settlement in three months.