The Thai stock market turned lower again on Friday, one session after it had snapped the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 15 points or 0.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,720-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is firm following strong employment data from the United States. The European and U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SET finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the energy producers were mitigated by support from the financial shares.
For the day, the index sank 7.15 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 1,719.82 after trading between 1,714.62 and 1,729.88. Volume was 16.834 billion shares worth 57.649 billion baht. There were 825 decliners and 444 gainers, with 390 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Banpu spiked 1.43 percent, while Bangkok Bank collected 0.26 percent, Bangkok Expressway skidded 1.83 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods soared 2.00 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 1.83 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.57 percent, PTT dropped 1.44 percent, PTT Exploration and Production shed 0.37 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 2.52 percent, Siam Commercial Bank surged 2.26 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.35 percent and Advanced Info, Thailand Airport and Bangkok Medical were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks showed a strong move to the upside on Friday as traders reacted to upbeat employment data - allowing the NASDAQ to hit its best closing level in two months.
The Dow added 219.37 points or 0.90 percent to 24,635.21, the Nasdaq spiked 112.21 points or 1.51 percent to 7,554.33 and the S&P surged 29.35 points or 1.08 percent to 2,734.62. For the week, the Dow fell 0.5 percent, the NASDAQ jumped 1.6 percent and the S&P added 0.5 percent.
The strength followed the Labor Department report showing stronger than expected job growth in May. The unemployment fell to 3.8 percent in May from 3.9 percent in April, touching its lowest level since April 2000.
Also, the Institute for Supply Management noted that growth in manufacturing activity picked up more than expected in May.
Crude oil futures moved lower Friday as an upbeat jobs report lifted the dollar and dented commodities. July WTI oil fell $1.23 or 1.8 percent to $65.81/bbl. Oil suffered its worst week since April, down 3.1 percent.
Closer to home, Thailand will see May figures for consumer and producer prices later today. In April, overall inflation was up 0.45 percent on month and 1,1 percent on year, while core CPI added 0.03 percent on month and 0.60 percent on year. Producer prices were up 0.4 percent on month and down 0.8 percent on year.
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