Thai Stock Market Overdue For Support On Monday

The Thai stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, sliding almost 45 points 3.4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,245-point plateau although it's expected to find traction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology stocks expected to lead the markets higher amidst bargain hunting. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index eased 2.52 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 1,244.94 after trading between 1,241.66 and 1,256.40. Volume was 12.687 billion shares worth 45.623 billion baht. There were 898 decliners and 544 gainers, with 461 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.58 percent, while Thailand Airport spiked 1.77 percent, Asset World tumbled 1.59 percent, Bangkok Bank lost 0.52 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical fell 0.50 percent, Bangkok Expressway tanked 2.27 percent, BTS Group retreated 1.52 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods declined 1.77 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.33 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 1.12 percent, PTT Exploration and Production plunged 2.12 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.63 percent, Siam Commercial Bank surrendered 0.78 percent, Siam Concrete was down 0.62 percent, TMB Bank slipped 1.10 percent and PTT was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks showed a lack of direction early Friday but surged in the afternoon to finish solidly higher.

The Dow jumped 358.56 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 27,173.96, while the NASDAQ spiked 241.26 points or 2.26 percent to end at 10,913.56 and the S&P 500 climbed 51.87 points or 1.60 percent to close at 3,298.46. For the week, the Dow fell 1.7 percent, the NASDAQ rose 1.1 percent and the S&P was down 0.6 percent.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came as technology stocks moved higher, rebounding from recent weakness. Big-name tech stocks like Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) posted significant gains on the day.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington amid reports House Democrats plan to unveil a new $2.4 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The price tag for the bill is $1 trillion less than a stimulus package the House passed back in May but may still be too high for Republicans.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a much smaller than expected increase in durable goods orders in August.

Crude oil prices eased on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to rising coronavirus cases and fresh lockdown measures. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.06 or 0.2 percent at $40.25 a barrel. WTI Crude oil futures shed 2.6 percent for the week.