Thai share prices closed 0.17 percent higher on Thursday due to gains in major shares especially in the energy sector, dealers said. They said the Thai bourse bucked the regional trend, as other markets in Hong Kong and Singapore were dragged down by an overnight slump on Wall Street.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index rose 1.46 points to close at 850.17, while the blue chip SET 50 index gained 2.55 points to 615.50. Losers far outnumbered gainers 220 to 131 while 117 stocks were unchanged with turnover of 3.68 billion shares worth 23.62 billion baht (739.76 million dollars).
The Thai baht depreciated against the dollar, closing at 31.91-94 from Wednesday's 31.74-75 baht. But the baht gained against the euro, finishing at 48.96-49.00 from 49.10-13. "The market closed up while others markets in the region mostly fell today. The main reason was gains in energy shares," said Chai Chirasevenupraphand, market strategist at Capital Nomura Securities.
Chai said high oil prices drove up shares in major energy firms, particularly PTT, its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production, as well as Banpu, driven by high oil prices. World oil reached a new record price above 120 dollars a barrel on Tuesday. "Profit-taking appeared in small-cap shares, such as steel companies, while trading in banking and commodity sectors were rather quiet today," he said.
Thailand's top energy firm PTT rose 4.00 baht to close at 352.00, and its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production surged 6.00 to 185.00. Another major energy firm Banpu gained 4.00 to 452.00. The country's largest lender Bangkok Bank lost 2.00 to 133.00 while another major lender Siam Commercial Bank fell 1.50 to 89.50. The country's biggest telephone operator Advance Info Service rose 1.50 to 93.50 while Thai Airways International edged down 0.50 to 27.25.
Comments
Comments are closed.