The Thai stock market gained 1.37 percent on Thursday due to a rally in the banking sector and the further inflow of foreign funds, an analyst said. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index rose 9.84 points to close at 726.91, and the blue chip SET-50 index gained 8.01 points to 519.83.
Gainers overwhelmed losers 256 to 95 and 113 stocks were unchanged with turnover of 4.8 billion shares worth 26.1 billion baht (780 million dollars). The baht weakened against the dollar to close at 33.47-49 baht compared to Wednesday's close of 33.42-48. But it inched up against the euro to close at 48.80-85 baht compared to the previous day's close of 49.00-10.
"The market gained today because of the ongoing inflow of foreign funds and a rally in the banking sector," said Therdsak Thaweetheeratham, an analyst at Asia Plus Securities. He said investors reacted positively to government plans to appeal against a court order suspending the operations of 76 industrial projects in Thailand.
The banking sectoral index rose 3.75 percent while the financial index gained 2.20 percent. Among the country's largest lenders Bangkok Bank jumped 6.00 baht to close at 127.00 baht, Kasikornbank rose 3.00 baht to 85.50 and Siam Commercial Bank rose 3.00 baht to 88.00. Coal producer Banpu rose 2.00 to 432.00 baht, PTT Plc added 1.00 to 263.00 baht and its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production was up 1.00 baht to 145.00. Siam Cement rose 1.00 baht to 233.00.