Thai Stock Market Tipped To Find Traction On Friday

The Thai stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,625-point plateau although it figures to stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on expectations for solid earnings news and support from crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and energy producers.

For the day, the index eased 3.30 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 1,624.31 after trading between 1,622.56 and 1,632.30. Volume was 28.588 billion shares worth 74.096 billion baht. There were 1,169 decliners and 544 gainers, with 573 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.80 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.39 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.22 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical spiked 2.98 percent, Bangkok Expressway rose 0.56 percent, BTS Group shed 0.53 percent, CP All Public climbed 1.18 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.98 percent, Gulf rallied 2.92 percent, IRPC declined 1.36 percent, Kasikornbank sank 0.72 percent, Krung Thai Card advanced 0.88 percent, PTT Oil & Retail lost 0.89 percent, PTT retreated 1.29 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plummeted 2.47 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 2.35 percent, SCG Packaging skidded 1.16 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dipped 0.41 percent, Siam Concrete was up 0.25 percent and TTB Bank and Krung Thai Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened firmly higher on Thursday and stayed in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 239.79 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 35,730.48, while the NASDAQ spiked 212.28 points or 1.39 percent to close at 15,448.12 and the S&P 500 gained 44.74 points or 0.98 percent to end at 4,596.42.

A positive reaction to the latest batch of earnings news from big-name companies helped stocks renew the upward trend seen in recent sessions, fueled by the likes of Ford (F), Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), Caterpillar (CAT) and Merck (MRK).

Adding to the positive sentiment, a report from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell for the fourth straight week last week.

Crude oil futures settled marginally higher Thursday, recovering from an early setback as prices were weighed down by data showing an increase in U.S. crude inventories and the prospect of Iranian crude entering the market. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December ended up by $0.15 or 0.2 percent at $82.81 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release September results for current account and its coincident index later today; in August, the current account deficit was $2.5 billion and the coincident index score was 125.70.