The Thai stock market on Friday ended the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 20 points or 1.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,445-point plateau and its tipped to see additional support on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following the release of strong U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SET finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the resource and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the property and industrial sectors.
For the day, the index rose 1.52 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,444.25 after trading between 1,432.22 and 1,447.65.
Among the actives, Advanced Info slumped 1.11 percent, while Thailand Airport and CP All Public both lost 1.16 percent, Asset World skidded 1.07 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.66 percent, B. Grimm tanked 2.56 percent, BTS Group added 0.45 percent, Energy Absolute retreated 1.15 percent, Gulf rallied 2.16 percent, Kasikornbank rose 0.34 percent, PTT Oil & Retail stumbled 1.75 percent, PTT strengthened 1.49 percent, PTT Exploration and Production soared 2.25 percent, SCG Packaging sank 0.84 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.46 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 0.82 percent, Thai Oil jumped 2.00 percent, True Corporation declined 0.90 percent, TTB Bank gained 0.52 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Krung Thai Bank, Krung Thai Card, PTT Global Chemical, Banpu, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow jumped 341.15 points or 0.81 percent to finish at a record 42,352.75, while the NASDAQ rallied 219.35 points or 1.22 percent to end at 18,137.85 and the S&P 500 advanced 51.13 points or 0.90 percent to close at 5,751.
The support on Wall Street came after the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 254,000 jobs in September after rising by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in August.
The stronger than expected jobs growth eased concerns about the economic outlook, but dashed hopes of aggressive rate cuts in the coming months.
Following the jobs data, CME Groups FedWatch Tool is indicating a 91.2% the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in November and just a 8.8 percent chance of another half point rate cut.
Oil futures settled higher on Friday on concerns about a possible attack on Irans oil facilities by Israel, while upbeat U.S. jobs data also supported oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.67 or 0.91 percent at $74.38 a barrel, a five-week high. WTI crude futures gained more than 9 percent in the week.
Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to provide September figures for consumer prices later today; in August, overall inflation was up 0.35 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 0.62 percent.