Thai Shares May Halt Slide On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, shedding more than 10 points of 0.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,300-point plateau, although it may find support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology stocks expected to lead the way higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index sank 9.68 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 1,297.01 after trading between 1,292.73 and 1,312.74. Volume was 10.920 billion shares worth 44.929 billion baht. There were 325 decliners and 143 gainers, with 179 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info retreated 1.35 percent, while Thailand Airport gained 0.63 percent, Asset World and Krung Thai Card both shed 0.81 percent, Banpu plunged 3.76 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical added 0.48 percent, Bangkok Expressway slipped 0.94 percent, B. Grimm surrendered 2.21 percent, BTS Group plummeted 2.41 percent, Energy Absolute stumbled 2.72 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.61 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.98 percent, PTT Oil & Retail contracted 2.13 percent, PTT lost 0.75 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 0.86 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.80 percent, SCG Packaging skidded 1.04 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.79 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.43 percent, Thai Oil was down 1.35 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.88 percent and TTB Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Bangkok Bank, Gulf and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow climbed 124.10 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 46,142.42, while the NASDAQ rallied 209.40 points or 0.94 percent to end at 22,470.72 and the S&P 500 gained 31.61 points or 0.48 percent to close at 6,631.96.

Technology stocks led the markets higher amid a spike by shares of Intel (INTC), with the chipmaker skyrocketing by 22.8 percent to its best closing level in over a year.

The rally by Intel came after the company announced a collaboration with Nvidia (NVDA) to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected last week. Also, the Conference Board said its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell more than expected in August.

Crude oil fell on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted at a slowdown by the American economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.46 or 0.72 percent at $63.59 per barrel.