Higher Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market headed south again on Thursday, one session after ending the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 15 points or 1.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,250-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on optimism over earnings news, although weakness from the technology and oil companies may limit the upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly in the green and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index dropped 16.33 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 1,253.54 after trading between 1,250.29 and 1,274.50. Volume was 5.349 billion shares worth 28.929 billion baht. There were 302 decliners and 149 gainers, with 199 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport crashed 2.78 percent, while Asset World skidded 1.00 percent, Banpu tumbled 1.60 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.31 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical strengthened 1.56 percent, Bangkok Expressway declined 0.93 percent, B. Grimm tanked 2.04 percent, BTS Group plunged 3.94 percent, Energy Absolute improved 0.75 percent, Gulf added 0.61 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.88 percent, Krung Thai Card slumped 0.89 percent, PTT lost 0.79 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 2.00 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 1.32 percent, Siam Commercial Bank improved 0.76 percent, Siam Concrete shed 0.56 percent, Thai Oil jumped 1.45 percent, True Corporation contracted 0.90 percent and TTB Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Advanced Info, PTT Oil & Retail, PTT Exploration and Production and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily higher as the day progressed.

The Dow jumped 646.26 points or 1.34 percent to finish at a record 48,704.01, while the NASDAQ dipped 60.30 points or 0.25 percent to close at 23,593.86 and the &P 500 rose 14.32 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,901.00.

The surge by the Dow reflected a spike by shares of Visa (V) after Bank of American upgraded its rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral. Strong gains by Nike (NKE), UnitedHealth (UNH) and American Express (AXP) also contributed to the jump by the blue chip index.

On the other hand shares of Oracle (ORCL) weighed on the NASDAQ after the company reported fiscal Q2 earnings that beat estimates but on weaker than expected revenues - reflecting renewed valuation concerns.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded more than expected last week.

Crude oil prices dropped on Thursday on oversupply concerns even as OPEC prepares to pause output hikes in early 2026. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.88 or 1.51 percent at $57.58 per barrel.