Thai Bourse Overdue For Support On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in seven straight sessions, sinking almost 60 points or 3.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,610-point plateau although it's expected to stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over inflation, demand and interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the energy producers.

For the day, the index slipped 7.34 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 1,612.64 after trading between 1,608.67 and 1,626.55. Volume was 18.031 billion shares worth 67.583 billion baht. There were 1,121 decliners and 480 gainers, with 387 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport skidded 1.03 percent, while Asset World jumped 1.72 percent, Banpu advanced 0.93 percent, Bangkok Bank tanked 2.76 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.90 percent, Bangkok Expressway plunged 2.14 percent, B. Grimm plummeted 4.58 percent, BTS Group lost 0.64 percent, CP All Public and PTT Exploration and Production both strengthened 1.64 percent, Energy Absolute surrendered 1.96 percent, Gulf tumbled 1.95 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.37 percent, Krung Thai Bank declined 1.16 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 1.72 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 0.46 percent, PTT retreated 1.56 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 2.66 percent, SCG Packaging spiked 2.42 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.48 percent, Siam Concrete surged 2.80 percent, Thai Oil accelerated 2.93 percent, TTB Bank stumbled 1.44 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Advanced Info and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily upward throughout the session, with all finishing firmly in the green.

The Dow surged 341.75 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,003.57, while the NASDAQ advanced 83.50 points or 0.73 percent to end at 11,462.98 and the S&P 500 gained 29.96 points or 0.76 percent to close at 3,981.35.

The surge by the Dow reflected a spike by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud-based software company soaring 11.5 percent on better than expected Q4 results and upbeat guidance.

The markets also rebounded on comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic, who said he strongly favors raising interest rates in only quarter-point increments.

Traders largely shrugged off a continue surge in treasury yields, which followed the release of a Labor Department report unexpectedly showing a modest decline in initial jobless claims last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session as optimism about higher demand from China outweighed concerns about inflation and interest rate hikes. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April settled at $78.16 a barrel, gaining $0.47 or 0.6 percent.