Lower Open Predicted For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, gathering more than a dozen points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,380-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with profit taking likely to cap any upside. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the consumption, industrial, services and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rose 4.96 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 1,382.68 after trading between 1,376.79 and 1,384.82. Volume was 11.362 billion shares worth 40.256 billion baht. There were 276 gainers and 190 decliners, with 199 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.48 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 1.52 percent, Asset World retreated 1.46 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.86 percent, B. Grimm dropped 0.93 percent, CP All Public slid 0.42 percent, Energy Absolute tumbled 1.85 percent, Gulf lost 0.59 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.37 percent, Krung Thai Card and TTB Bank both shed 0.57 percent, PTT sank 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production fell 0.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 4.14 percent, SCG Packaging skyrocketed 7.20 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete improved 0.80 percent, Thai Oil strengthened 1.46 percent, True Corporation accelerated 2.94 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Banpu, PTT Oil & Retail, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and fairly flat and finished much the same.

The Dow climbed 134.19 points or 0.34 percent to finish at a record 40,003.59, while the NASDAQ slipped 12.33 points or 0.07 percent to close at 16,685.97 and the S&P 500 rose 6.17 points or 0.12 percent to end at 5,303.27.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.1 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped 1.5 percent and the Dow shot up 1.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they digest recent strength in the markets, which saw the major averages reach new record highs.

In economic news, the Conference Board noted a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of April.

Oil prices rose on Friday amid easing inflation, data showing a drop in inventories, and hopes of interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June climbed to $80.06 a barrel, gaining $0.79 or more than 1 percent. WTI crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to release Q1 figures for GDP later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.6 percent on quarter and 0.8 percent on year. Thet follows the 0.6 percent quarterly contraction and the 1.7 percent yearly gain in the three months prior.