The Thai stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the four-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 70 points or 5.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,260-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian is soft, with profit taking expected following last week's election run in the United States, while varying earnings news and oil process may lend an air of volatility. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.
The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food companies and mixed performances from the financials and energy producers.
For the day, the index dipped 4.24 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 1,260.08 after trading between 1,251.08 and 1,270.22. Volume was 29.075 billion shares worth 73.524 billion baht. There were 1,072 decliners and 493 gainers, with 428 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info plunged 2.79 percent, while Thailand Airport tumbled 1.76 percent, Asset World shed 0.61 percent, Bangkok Bank soared 4.93 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical skidded 1.09 percent, Bangkok Expressway retreated 1.72 percent, BTS Group lost 0.53 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods declined 1.85 percent, Global Power Synergy skyrocketed 5.83 percent, Gulf rallied 3.20 percent, Kasikornbank perked 2.23 percent, Krung Thai Bank accelerated 2.81 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.56 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 3.32 percent, TMB Bank surged 3.37 percent and PTT, PTT Exploration and Production and Siam Concrete were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is murky as stocks opened sharply lower on Friday but rallied to finish largely unchanged.
The Dow shed 66.80 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 28,323.40, while the NASDAQ rose 4.33 points or 0.04 percent to end at 11,895.23 and the S&P 500 eased 1.01 points or 0.03 percent to close at 3,509.44. For the week, The Dow jumped 6.9 percent, the NASDAQ surged 9 percent and the S&P spiked 7.1 percent.
The early weakness on Wall Street was partly due to profit taking following the strong upward move seen over the past several sessions.
The early selling pressure was offset by a closely watched report from the Labor Department showing stronger than expected job growth in October, while the jobless rate fell 1 percent.
The markets were also reacting to the continued uncertainty about the U.S. presidential election - although that was cleared up on Saturday when Democrat Joe Biden was projected as the winner.
Crude oil futures ended sharply lower on Friday, weighed down by rising concerns over outlook for energy demand due to the continued global surge in coronavirus cases. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $1.65 or 4.3 percent at $37.14 a barrel.
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