Mild Rebound Called For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had improved more than 25 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,250-point plateau although it may bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity ahead of key U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and roughly flat and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the food, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index plunged 27.22 points or 2.13 percent to finish at 1,253.60 after trading between 1,251.40 and 1,268.61. Volume was 5.572 billion shares worth 48.218 billion baht. There were 308 decliners and 142 gainers, with 209 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.63 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.49 percent, Asset World stumbled 1.90 percent, Banpu skidded 0.99 percent, Bangkok Bank rallied 2.06 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slipped 0.51 percent, B. Grimm fell 0.68 percent, BTS Group declined 1.74 percent, CP All Public slumped 1.15 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 3.55 percent, Gulf retreated 1.73 percent, Kasikornbank vaulted 1.57 percent, Krung Thai Bank jumped 1.77 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 1.89 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 0.73 percent, PTT Global Chemical dropped 0.90 percent, SCG Packaging shed 0.54 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.72 percent, Siam Concrete lost 0.50 percent, True Corporation sank 0.89 percent, TTB Bank advanced 0.99 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, PTT, PTT Exploration and Production, Thai Oil and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and spent much of the day on opposite sides of the line and ending the same way.

The Dow climbed 270.03 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 49,266.11, while the NASDAQ sank 104.26 points or 0.44 percent to end at 23,480.02 and the S&P 500 perked 0.51 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,921.44.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The jobs data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy meeting later this month. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its January 27-28 meeting but is seen as likely to cut rates by at least another quarter point in the coming months.

Ahead of the monthly jobs report, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged up slightly less than expected last week.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Thursday as data showed a decline in the U.S. crude inventories, offsetting global oversupply concerns and supporting prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.70 or 3.04 percent at $57.69 per barrel.