Thai share prices gained 0.54 percent Friday due to late buying in large banking stocks, dealers said. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index rose 3.75 points to 695.89 points and the blue chip SET 50 index gained 3.34 points to 494.74.
Gainer outnumbered losers 170 stocks to 105 and 126 stocks were unchanged with turnover of 2.2 billion shares worth 12.2 billion baht (297.6 million dollars) traded.
The Thai unit was relatively stable against the dollar as it closed Friday at 41.00-05 baht to one dollar compared to the previous day's 41.03-09.
It hovered against the euro to close at 50.40-55 to one euro compared to the Thursday's close of 50.37-62.
The banking sectoral index rose 1.87 percent, energy fell 0.04 percent and communication gained 0.29 percent. Bangkok Bank gained 2.50 baht to 102.00 and Kasikornbank rose 2.00 to 60.00 while Siam Commercial Bank added 0.50 to 49.25 baht.
Capital Nomura Securities added 0.50 baht to 47.25 baht.