(RTTNews) – Ahead of the long holiday weekend for Queen Suthida’s birthday, the Thai stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 20 points or 1.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,150-point plateau although it’s likely to bounce higher again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for tariffs and the economy. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SET finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industry, property, resource, service and technology sectors.
For the day, the index dropped 14.83 points or 1.27 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,149.18 after trading as high as 1,160.43. Volume was 9.758 billion shares worth 73.098 billion baht. There were 295 decliners and 172 gainers, with 188 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.35 percent, while Thailand Airport slid 0.75 percent, Asset World tumbled 1.98 percent, Banpu plunged 4.13 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.39 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dipped 0.46 percent, Bangkok Expressway advanced 0.94 percent, B. Grimm weakened 1.02 percent, BTS Group contracted 2.19 percent, CP All Public was down 1.05 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods stumbled 2.00 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 2.68 percent, Gulf slumped 1.64 percent, Kasikornbank slipped 0.32 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.89 percent, Krung Thai Card crashed 8.33 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 2.48 percent, PTT and Thai Oil both lost 1.65 percent, PTT Exploration and Production cratered 2.97 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 0.97 percent, SCG Packaging surrendered 2.37 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.84 percent, Siam Concrete plummeted 4.05 percent, True Corporation declined 1.57 percent and TTB Bank skidded 1.03 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off early weakness on Tuesday, climbing steadily higher to end near session highs.
The Dow rallied 214.16 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 42,519.64, while the NASDAQ jumped 156.34 points or 0.81 percent to close at 19,398.96 and the S&P 500 added 34.43 points or 0.58 percent to end at 5,970.37.
The continued strength on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing an unexpected increase by job openings in the U.S. in the month of April.
Meanwhile, traders continued to await further developments on the trade front a month ahead of the expiration of President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff pause.
While tensions between the U.S. and China have seemingly risen in recent days, traders appear to remain generally optimistic about trade deals being reached.
The price of crude oil showed another strong move to the upside during trading on Tuesday amid ongoing concerns about supply due to escalating geopolitical tensions and stuttering U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery jumped $0.89 or 1.4 percent to $63.41 a barrel.
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