Futures Focus

The SET50 Index closed last week at 1,175.81 points, an increase of 8.63 points or 0.74% from the previous week. The most traded SET50 Futures contract S50G18 (expiring in February 2018) was settled at 1,175.00 points, an increase of 11.9 points or 1%.

The US markets continued their climb before slumping on Wednesday for the first time in 201 in response to reports that China was considering whether to scale back its huge purchases of US Treasuries. Shares rebounded on Thursday with the S&P 500 index climbing 0.7%, led by energy shares as oil prices topped $63 a barrel in the US and hovered near $70 in Europe. The rally continued on Friday, led by retailers, after December data showed holiday-season sales were healthy. The Dow jumped 228 points on Friday to finish the week at 25,803.19, an increase of 2% from 25,295.87 the week before.

On the Thai stock market, the SET100 index tracked regional gains and remained at an all-time high firmly above 1,800 points. Trade was more volatile than in the first week of the year with movement between 1,791 and 1,815 points. The SET rose 7.79 points on Friday to finish the week at 1,810.19, an increase of 0.8% from 1,795.45 the week before.

On the TFEX, daily average trading volume was 3,299,456 contracts, an increase of 291,849 contracts or 9.7% from the previous week. The most actively traded product was Single Stock Futures with 1,593,910 contracts, or 398,478 per day. Total market open interest was 2,566,002 contracts, a decrease of 1,819,088 or 41.5%.