Thai Shares May Head South Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,350-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of caution ahead of key inflation data later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the food, industrial, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rose 1.69 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 1,351.52 after trading between 1,340.83 and 1,353.50. Volume was 15.298 billion shares worth 43.799 billion baht. There were 251 decliners and 216 gainers, with 191 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport gathered 0.79 percent, Asset World gained 0.52 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.08 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tumbled 1.80 percent, Bangkok Expressway was up 0.63 percent, BTS Group retreated 1.68 percent, CP All Public strengthened 1.32 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods surged 3.11 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 3.90 percent, Gulf sank 0.61 percent, Kasikornbank slumped 1.13 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.59 percent, Krung Thai Card spiked 2.82 percent, PTT perked 0.76 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.96 percent, PTT Global Chemical improved 0.71 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete added 0.42 percent, Thai Oil slid 0.48 percent, True Corporation climbed 1.16 percent, TTB Bank lost 0.58 percent and SCG Packaging, Banpu, B. Grimm and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened solidly lower on Thursday and remained well in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow plunged 330.06 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 38,111.48, while the NASDAQ tumbled 183.50 points or 1.08 percent to end at 16,737.08 and the S&P 500 sank 31.47 points or 0.60 percent to close at 5,235.48.

The weakness on Wall Street was fueled by concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of closely watched inflation data later today, which includes readings said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.

A nosedive by shares of Salesforce (CRM) weighed on the Dow, with the software company plunging 19.7 percent after reporting weaker than expected revenues and guidance.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits crept modestly higher last week. Also, the Commerce Department said gross domestic product was revised down to 1.3 percent in Q1 from 1.6 percent.

Oil futures ended sharply lower on Thursday as a jump in gasoline inventories weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended down by $1.32 or 1.7 percent at $77.91 a barrel.