Futures Focus

The SET50 index closed last week at 786.03 points, a decrease of 40.8 points or 4.9% from the previous week. The most-traded SET50 futures contract S50U20 (expiring in September 2020) was settled at 784.00 points, a decrease of 44.7 points or 5.4%.

Wall Street was battered early in the week by a tech sell-off and unease about the return of restrictions in many countries facing new Covid-19 surges. But investors were heartened later by signs that the political impasse over pandemic relief funds in the US might be easing. Tech shares revived on Friday, and the Dow rallied to gain 358 points (1.3%) in that session to finish the week at 27,173.96, a decrease of 1.7% from 27,657.42 the week before.

The SET lost ground in line with the downbeat global mood and political tensions arising from antigovernment demonstrations and stalled progress on constitutional reform. The index fell 2.52 points on Friday to finish the week at 1,244.94, a decrease of 3.4% from 1,288.39 the previous week.

On the TFEX, daily average trading volume was 554,475 contracts, an increase of 200,664 contracts or 56.7% from the previous week. The most actively traded product was SET50 index futures with 1,468,147 contracts, or 293,629 per day. Total market open interest was 1,913,068 contracts, an increase of 41,322 or 2.2%.