Win Streak May Continue For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai Stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 20 points or 1.4 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,540-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopes for an end to the U.S.-Iran war. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly higher again on Friday following gains from the consumer, finance, industrial and technology companies.

For the day, the index added 6.00 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 1,538.67 after trading between 1,533.03 and 1,542.25. Volume was 10.655 billion shares worth 60.033 billion baht. There were 244 gainers and 208 decliners, with 198 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.84 percent, while Banpu increased 0.85 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slipped 0.55 percent, B. Grimm shed 0.74 percent, CP All Public lost 0.53 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods skidded 1.05 percent, Energy Absolute skyrocketed 10.88 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.72 percent, PTT retreated 1.34 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.33 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 2.05 percent, Siam Commercial Bank improved 0.75 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 0.88 percent, Thai Oil added 0.53 percent, True Corporation tumbled 2.13 percent, TTB Bank advanced 0.87 percent and Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Card, PTT Global Chemical, Asset World, Gulf, PTT Oil & Retail, Thailand Airport, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained modestly in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow climbed 294.00 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 50,579.70, while the NASDAQ rose 50.87 points or 0.19 percent to close at 26,343.97 and the S&P 500 added 27.75 points or 0.37 percent to end at 7,473.47.

For the week, the Dow surged 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ increased by 0.5 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came amid persistent optimism about an end to the U.S.-Iran war even as crude oil and gasoline prices remained elevated going into the busy Memorial Day weekend.

In economic news, a report from the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated much more than previously estimated in the month of May.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday as traders weighed concerns of an impending crude oil inventory shortage against the positive signals from U.S.-Iran peace talks. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $0.10 or 0.10 percent at $96.45 per barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to release April data for imports, exports and trade balance later today; in March, imports were up 35.7 percent on year and exports rose an annual 18.7 percent for a trade deficit of $3.340 billion.