The Thai stock market has finished higher now in back-to-back sessions, jumping more than 15 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand finished just below the 1,090-point plateau, but now traders are expected to lock in gains when the market kicks off trade on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative following much weaker than expected employment data from the United States. Losses figure to be broadly based at the open, although brokerages and technology stocks may be hit particularly hard. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly in the red, and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.
The SET finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and some of the energy producers.
For the day, the index added 5.38 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 1,088.46 after trading between 1,085.55 and 1,089.74. Volume was 6.297 billion shares worth 37.231 billion baht. There were 277 gainers and 184 decliners, with 133 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, energy giant PTT was down 1.18 percent, while PTT Chemical added 2.52 percent, PTT Aromatic gained 3.09 percent, coal producer Banpu collected 1.39 percent, Siam Concrete gathered 2.18 percent, Siam Commercial Bank climbed 1.27 percent and Bangkok Bank jumped 0.30 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as stocks closed lower on Friday on the heels of much weaker than expected employment data, although the major averages ended the session well off their worst levels of the day. Optimism about the upcoming earnings season helped to lift stocks off their lows in afternoon trading.
Stocks plunged following the release of a Labor Department report showing much weaker than expected job growth in June. The report showed that U.S. employment edged up by just 18,000 jobs in June following a downwardly revised increase of 25,000 jobs in May. Economists had been expecting employment to increase by more than 100,000 jobs. Additionally, the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 9.2 percent in June from 9.1 percent in May, which was also up slightly from April.
In other economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing that wholesale inventories rose by 1.8 percent in May, double the expectations of economists. On the other hand, wholesale sales edged down by 0.2 percent.
Among individual stocks, shares of Google (GOOG) came under pressure after Morgan Stanley lowered its rating on the internet search giant to equal weight from overweight. Google fell by 2.7 percent after ending the previous session at a nearly three-month closing high.
Meanwhile, WD-40 (WDFC) surged up by 6.6 percent after the consumer products maker reported weaker than expected third quarter results but provided full year guidance in line with analyst estimates. With the gain, shares of WD-40 set a record closing high.
The major averages continued to regain ground going into the close but still ended the day in the red. The Dow closed down by 62.29 points or 0.5 percent at 12,657.20, the NASDAQ fell 12.85 points or 0.5 percent to 2,859.81 and the S&P 500 dropped 9.42 points or 0.7 percent to 1,343.80. Despite the losses on the day, the major averages all moved higher for the holiday-shortened week. The tech-heavy NASDAQ surged up by 1.6 percent for the week, while the Dow and the S&P 500 rose by 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
On the economic front, Thailand's international reserves rose to $184.9 billion in the week ended July 1 from $184.3 billion in the week ended June 24, data from the Bank of Thailand showed on Friday. Gold reserves totaled $6.05 billion, down from $6.1 billion in the previous week. Special Drawing Rights amounted to $1.56 billion, compared to $1.55 billion in the previous week. Thailand's reserve position with the International Monetary Fund rose to $599 million from $595 million. Foreign currency reserves totaled $176.9 billion, compared to $176.05 billion in the previous week.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.