Futures Focus

The SET50 Index closed last week at 1,181.86 points, a decrease of 10.63 points or 0.9% from the previous week. The most traded SET50 Futures contract S50K18 (expiring in May 2018) was settled at 1,176.00 points, a decrease of 10.6 points or 0.9%.

Wall Street had its worst sell-off in two months on Thursday, with the Dow shedding almost 3% amid fear of a major trade war with China, as President Donald Trump opened a second front targeting Chinese imports worth $60 billion to punish intellectual property “theft”. Shares of manufacturers, aluminium and steel producers were sharply lower. Investors also are warily eyeing inflation after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday and reiterated plans for two more increases this year. The rout continued on Friday with the Dow losing 424.69 points to finish the week at 23,533.20, a drop of 5.7% from 24,946.51 the week before.

The Thai stock market remained rangebound near 1,800 points for most of the week, but there was some major intraday volatility as investors watched developments in the growing US-China trade dispute. The SET fell 4.34 points on Friday to finish the week at 1,794.21, a decrease of 1% from 1,811.76 the week before.

On the TFEX, daily average trading volume was 395,999 contracts, a decrease of 38,776 contracts or 8.9% from the previous week. The most actively traded product was Single Stock Futures with 1,105,353 contracts, or 221,071 per day. Total market open interest was 3,427,632 contracts, an increase of 35,643 or 1%.