Thai Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Friday

The Thai stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, climbing almost a dozen points or 0.9 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,280-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on a declining outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the food, finance, consumer, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index gained 9.64 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 1,281.81 after trading between 1,278.44 and 1,294.45. Volume was 7.135 billion shares worth 33.40 billion baht. There were 245 gainers and 194 decliners, with 220 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info improved 0.64 percent, while Thailand Airport skyrocketed 5.63 percent, Banpu gathered 0.46 percent, Bangkok Bank expanded 1.27 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 1.56 percent, BTS Group sank 0.77 percent, CP All Public perked 0.57 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods increased 0.47 percent, Gulf vaulted 1.21 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.08 percent, Krung Thai Bank jumped 1.85 percent, PTT Oil & Retail was up 0.76 percent, PTT advanced 0.83 percent, PTT Global Chemical added 0.50 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 1.83 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.39 percent, Siam Concrete gained 0.55 percent, Thai Oil slumped 1.34 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.53 percent and Krung Thai Card, Asset World, True Corporation, B. Grimm, Energy Absolute, PTT Exploration and Production and Bangkok Expressway.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday and finished deeply under water.

The Dow stumbled 386.51 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 45,752.26, while the NASDAQ plummeted 486.18 points or 2.15 percent to close at 22,078.05 and the S&P 500 dropped 103.40 points or 1.56 percent to end at 6,538.76.

The early rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to highly anticipated earnings news from market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter results and providing upbeat guidance – although the stock tumbled later in the day.

The subsequent downturn by the broader markets reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the release of the Labor Department’s long-delayed jobs report for September. While the report showed an unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate, job growth in September far exceeded economist estimates.

The mixed data further eroded confidence that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another quarter point in December. While CME Group’s FedWatch Tool indicates the chances of a rate cut next month have risen to 39.8 percent from 30.1 percent on Wednesday, that figure is down sharply from 98.8 percent a month ago.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday as investors assessed reports of renewed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war ahead of the U.S. deadline. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.27 or 0.44 percent at $59.18 per barrel.

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