Futures Focus

The SET50 Index closed last week at 996.26 points, an increase of 4.16 points or 0.4% from the previous week. The most traded SET50 Futures contract S50Q17 (expiring in August 2017) was settled at 996.30 points, an increase of 1.3 points or 0.13%.

US stock markets continued to move upward last week amid positive underlying market sentiment. Modest economic growth, healthy corporate earnings and encouraging economic data all remain supportive of stocks. On Thursday, both the S&P and the Nasdaq hit intraday records in early trading amid news of a plunge in jobless claims. The Dow shed 32 points on Friday as a drop in oil prices that pulled down energy shares offset good earnings reports from GE, Honeywell and Microsoft. The Dow closed at 21,580.07, a decrease of 0.3% from 21,637.74 the week before.

In Thailand, stocks continued to trade in a very narrow range with no obvious catalysts and a lack of strong buying support from foreign investors. The SET is expected to continue to move sideways this week after the European Central Bank made no change in its policy rate and monthly asset purchases. The SET fell 1.77 points on Friday to finish the week at 1,573.51, a decline of 0.2% from the week before.

On the TFEX, daily average trading volume was 191,254 contracts, a decrease of 16,154 contracts or 7.8% from the previous week. The most actively traded product was Single Stock Futures with 573,925 contracts, or 114,785 per day. Total market open interest was 2,080,283 contracts, an increase of 94,960 or 4.8%.