The Thai stock market moved back to the upside again on Friday, one day after ending the modest two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 15 points or 2 percent in the process. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests above the 730-point plateau, and now investors are looking for the market to tick slightly higher again at the opening of trade on Monday.
The global forecast is effectively flat with a touch of upside, with exceptionally thin trade expected to persist for much of this week between the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Strength from the financials and technology stocks is likely to be offset by mild weakness from the oil companies and other commodities. The European and U.S. markets ended slightly higher ahead of the break, and now the Asian bourses are also forecast to inch higher.
The SET finished modestly higher on Friday as one of the few markets open for business on Christmas Day. Gains from the energy stocks and the financials pushed the market higher.
For the day, the index added 3.20 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 730.41 after trading between 728.09 and 730.64. Volume was 955 million shares worth 5.52 billion baht. There were 181 gainers and 113 decliners, with 161 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, energy giant PTT was up 1.26 percent, while PTT Exploration and Production gained 1.05 percent, PTT Aromatic added 0.99 percent, PTT Chemical shed 1.02 percent, coal producer Banpu was up 0.70 percent, Siam Concrete climbed 0.85 percent and Kasikornbank was up 0.29 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is fairly upbeat as stocks saw moderate strength to close out the Christmas holiday-shortened week on Thursday, with buying interest driven largely by the day's upbeat jobs report. With the advance, the major averages all closed at their best levels of the year after moving higher for a fifth straight session.
The day's upside came after the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims for the week ended December 19th fell to 452,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 480,000. Economists had been expecting a more modest decrease in jobless claims to about 470,000. With the decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since the week ended September 6, 2008, when jobless claims came in at 447,000.
Traders also digested data from the Commerce Department, which said durable goods orders edged up by 0.2 percent in November following an unrevised 0.6 percent decrease in October. Economists had been expecting a somewhat more substantial increase in orders of about 0.5 percent.
Additionally, financial service provider Citigroup, Inc. (C) followed Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) with a partial repayment of the U.S. Government bailout funds received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program in October 2008. Citi made a payment of $20 billion through a combination of stock and debt offerings. In addition, the firm also terminated the loss-sharing agreement with the Treasury Department.
The Dow finished higher by 53.66 points or 0.51 percent to end at 10,520.10. The S&P added 5.89 points or 0.53 percent to close at 1,126.48. The tech-heavy NASDAQ put on 16.05 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 2,285.69. All three indexes now rest at their highest levels for the year and are riding five-day winning streaks.
With the gains, the major averages closed higher in all four sessions of the holiday-shortened week. The Dow and the S&P 500 posted gains of 1.9 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, while the NASDAQ saw a weekly gain of 3.3 percent.
In economic news, Thailand's international reserves rose to US$137.51 billion in the week ended December 18 from US$136.98 billion as on December 11, the Bank of Thailand said on Friday.
Gold reserves decreased to US$2.98 billion from US$3.03 billion, while foreign currency reserves increased to US$132.64 billion from US$132.04 billion.
Thailand's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund decreased to US$361.51 million from US$366.15 million. Special drawing rights dropped slightly to US$1.52 billion from US$1.54 billion.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.