Narrow Trading Range Expected For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The win streak has stretched to four sessions now for the Thai stock market, which has collected more than 35 points or 2.4 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand settled just above the 1,530-point plateau, and now the market figures to be rangebound on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, with many of the regional bourses closed ahead of Easter weekend. The European and U.S. markets were mixed but little changed, and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, energy producers and cement stocks.

For the day, the index added 6.65 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 1,532.23 after trading between 1,525.30 and 1,539.65. volume was 11.287 billion shares worth 43.331 billion baht. There were 531 gainers and 350 decliners, with 222 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, coal miner Banpu climbed 1.67 percent, while Bangkok Bank jumped 1.10 percent, Kasikornbank collected0.43 percent, energy giant PTT advanced1.23 percent, PTT Exploration and Production spiked 1.34 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 1.90 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.28 percent and Siam Concrete gathered 1.57 percent.

The lead from Wall Street provides little guidance as stocks fluctuated on Thursday but ended mostly higher ahead of the long holiday weekend. The gains partly offset the losses in the two previous sessions.

The Dow climbed 65.06 points or 0.4 percent to 17,763.24, while the NASDAQ edged up 6.71 points or 0.1 percent to 4,886.94 and the S&P 500 rose 7.27 points or 0.4 percent to 2,066.96. For the holiday-shortened week, the NASDAQ eased 0.1 percent, and the Dow and the S&P 500 both added 0.3 percent.

Traders reacted to the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing that initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to a two-month low in the week ended March 28.

Also, the Commerce Department noted that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed by more than anticipated in February - possibly leading analysts to raise their forecasts for first quarter GDP growth.

But activity was somewhat subdued ahead of today's monthly jobs report, which is being released even as the markets are closed for the Good Friday holiday.