Futures Focus

The SET50 Index closed last week at 999.30 points, an increase of 6.42 points or 0.65% from the previous week. The most traded SET50 Futures contract S50N17 (expiring in July 2017) was settled at 996.50 points, an increase of 6.4 points or 0.65% from the previous week.

The US stock market fell on Monday but rose steadily from Tuesday onward. Investors were heartened after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signalled that the Fed was in no hurry to raise interest rates again or to start selling down some of its $4 trillion in securities holdings as inflation remains below target. Figures released on Friday underlined her view, as they showed that June inflation was unchanged at 1.6% year-on-year. As well, weak sentiment was underlined by poor June retail sales, down 0.2%, after a drop of 0.1% in May. However, the Dow rose 82 points to end the week at 21,637.74, an increase of 1% from 21,414.34 the week before.

Stocks in Thailand followed their global peers upward on Wednesday and Thursday in response to the signals from the Fed. However, local equities bucked the Asian trend and fell on Friday, closing down 1.62 points to finish the week at 1,577.79, an increase of 0.5% from the week before.

On the TFEX, daily average trading volume was 197,396 contracts, a decrease of 18,021 contracts or 8.4% from the previous week. The most actively traded product was Single Stock Futures with 420,279 contracts, or 105,070 per day. Total market open interest was 1,968,610 contracts, an increase of 56,679 or 3% from the previous week.