Little Movement Expected For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market on Friday ended the five-day winning streak win which it had surged more than 90 points or 6.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,430-point plateau and it may pin its wheels again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, with many markets shutting down this week for the Lunar New Year holiday. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the finance, industrial and technology sectors were offset by support from the services, resource and consumer companies.

For the day, the index sank 11.12 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 1,430.41 after trading between 1,426.41 and 1,443.97. Volume was 11.488 billion shares worth 66.146 billion baht. There were 252 gainers and 216 decliners, with 197 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tumbled 1.52 percent, while Thailand Airport gained 0.88 percent, Asset World declined 1.57 percent, Banpu plunged 1.71 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.95 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 0.92 percent, B. Grimm soared 4.83 percent, BTS Group skyrocketed 8.73 percent, CP All Public slid 0.51 percent, Energy Absolute stumbled 1.83 percent, Gulf rallied 1.28 percent, Kasikornbank retreated 1.51 percent, Krung Thai Bank tanked 2.42 percent, Krung Thai Card sank 0.81 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 0.70 percent, PTT lost 0.69 percent, PTT Exploration and Production was down 0.73 percent, PTT Global Chemical dropped 0.93 percent, SCG Packaging slumped 0.95 percent, Siam Commercial Bank slipped 0.35 percent, True Corporation contracted 1.47 percent and TTB Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Siam Concrete and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower but quickly inched higher before fading late to end mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 48.93 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 49,500.93, while the NASDAQ slipped 50.43 points or 0.22 percent to close at 22,546.67 and the S&P 500 perked 3.41 points or 005 percent to end at 6,836.17.

For the week, the NASDAQ tumbled 2.1 percent, the S&P dropped 1.4 percent and the Dow dropped 1.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department’s highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation in January. The report showed consumer prices rose slightly less than expected on a monthly basis, while the annual rate of growth slowed by more than anticipated.

The tamer-than-expected headline inflation data led to some renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates and a continued slump by treasury yields.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Friday, regaining some ground following the steep drop seen in the previous session after the IEA lowered its demand forecast. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.06 or 0.1 percent at $62.90 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide Q4 numbers for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.3 percent on quarter and 1.0 percent on year. That follows the 0.6 percent quarterly contraction and the 1.2 percent yearly gain in Q3.