Futures Focus

The SET50 Index closed last week at 990.22 points, a decrease of 1.8 points or 0.18% from the previous week. The most traded SET50 Futures contract S50M17 (expiring in June 2017) was settled at 990.50 points, a decrease of 1.5 points or 0.15%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Thursday in response to strong private-sector hiring data, helping to reduce anxiety about the prospects for President Donald Trump’s policies getting passed. His decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord had no impact on stocks. However, energy shares were affected by a 5% plunge in oil prices last week as investors fear higher US output will negate the gains of cuts made by Opec to support prices. The Dow gained 62 points on Friday to finish the week at 21,206.29, up 0.6% from 21,080.28 the week before.

The Thai stock market traded sideways with light volume as investors awaited positive catalysts. The central bank left its policy rate unchanged at 1.5%, but cautioned against the risk from external factors such as US policies and geopolitical factors. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 1.2%. The SET rose 4.49 points on Friday to finish the week at 1,567.60, a decrease of 0.1% from the week before.

On the TFEX, daily average trading volume was 204,741 contracts, an increase of 6,726 contracts or 3.4% from the previous week. The most actively traded product was Single Stock Futures with 598,028 contracts, or 119,606 per day. Total market open interest was 1,996,678 contracts, a decrease of 20,963 or 1.04%.