Thai Bourse: Support Expected At 1,600 Points

The Thai stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sliding almost 25 points or 1.7 percent long the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,600-point plateau, although it's expected to stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is firm on growing optimism for a resolution in the trade dispute between the United States and China. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the energy producers and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index dipped 7.24 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 1,602.23 after trading between 1,595.32 and 1,615.48. Volume was 19.769 billion shares worth 44.569 billion baht. There were 1,059 decliners and 543 gainers, with 444 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.43 percent, while Thailand Airport climbed 1.27 percent, Asset World tumbled 2.63 percent, Banpu skidded 1.72 percent, Bangkok Bank dipped0.29 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.42 percent, Bangkok Expressway advanced 0.93 percent, BTS Group added 0.72 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gained 0.96 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.60 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 1.23 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 1.88 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.43 percent, Siam Concrete plunged 1.81 percent, TMB Bank was down 0.70 percent and Kasikornbank and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks showed a strong upward move, sending the major averages to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow added 222.93 points or 0.93 percent to 28.004.89, while the NASDAQ gained 61.81 points or 0.73 percent to 8,540.83 and the S&P 500 rose 23.83 points or 0.77 percent to 3,120.46. For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 0.8 percent and the S&P was up 0.9 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came amid renewed optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal following comments from White House officials. Also, China has lifted a nearly five-year ban on imports of U.S. poultry in a goodwill gesture that could lead to more than $1 billion in annual shipments to China.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said U.S. retail sales rebounded slightly more than expected in October, while the Federal Reserve noted a steep drop in industrial output last month.

Crude oil prices ended sharply higher Friday on renewed optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal and hopes the OPEC might decide to deepen its supply cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $0.95 or 1.7 percent at $57.72 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release Q3 numbers for gross domestic product later today; in the three months prior, GDP was up 0.6 percent on quarter and 2.3 percent on year.