The Thai stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than a dozen points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,330-point plateau and it\'s tipped to extend its gains again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected in the technology sectors. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.
The SET finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financial, property, resource and service sectors were capped by weakness from the technology and industrial companies.
For the day, the index perked 2.67 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 1,332.04 after trading between 1,325.64 and 1,325.64. Volume was 11.824 billion shares worth 37.680 billion baht. There were 306 gainers and 164 decliners, with 186 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.45 percent, while Thailand Airport was up 0.43 percent, Asset World surged 3.76 percent, Banpu and PTT Oil & Retail both jumped 1.85 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.09 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.95 percent, Bangkok Expressway accelerated 1.96 percent, B. Grimm fell 0.44 percent, BTS Group tumbled 1.79 percent, CP All Public dropped 0.87 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 3.68 percent, Gulf rallied 1.22 percent, Krung Thai Card strengthened 1.32 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gathered 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 1.61 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.82 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete tanked 2.15 percent, Thai Oil increased 0.47 percent, True Corporation shed 0.55 percent, TTB Bank climbed 1.12 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank and PTT were unchanged.
The lead from all Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and remained well into the green throughout the session.
The Dow rallied 247.10 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 40,000.90, while the NASDAQ climbed 115.04 points or 0.63 percent to end at 18,398.45 and the S&P 500 gained 30.81 points or 0.55 percent to close at 5,615.35.
For the week, the Dow shot up 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ rose 0.3 percent.
The rebound on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the steep drop on Thursday, which partly reflected a rotation out of leading tech stocks like Nvidia (NVDA).
Traders also remained optimistic about the outlook for interest rates even though the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in June.
Oil futures settled lower on Friday, weighed down by data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in June. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.41 at $82.21 a barrel.