SET jumps 18.81 to 1,584.16

Thai stocks rose 1.2% on Friday amid gains across Asia after the Bank of Japan surprised markets with a new stimulus plan, lifting Tokyo shares 5%.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index rose 18.81 points from Thursday to close at 1,584.16, an increase of 2.9% from the previous Friday's close of 1,539.91. Turnover was 47.5 billion baht, with 22.6 billion shares traded.

The local market is up 22% from the end of 2013.

Foreign investors were net sellers on Friday of 85.66 million baht worth of Thai shares, bringing their net sales for the month to 16.14 billion baht. For the year to date they are net sellers of 19.89 billion baht.

Local institutions were net buyers of 1.1 billion baht and brokers bought 1.5 billion. Individual investors were net sellers of 2.52 billion baht. 

Japan's stock benchmark surged 5% to the highest level since late 2007 and the yen slid against the dollar after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly announced new stimulus to boost a flagging economy.

Expectations that Japan's $1.1-trillion public pension fund would increase its equity holdings gave a further boost to the market.

European shares and US futures also traded sharply higher after the Japanese central bank's announcement. The dollar soared 2% to 111.63 yen, which was the Japanese currency's lowest level in more than five years.

The Bank of Japan said it would increase its asset purchases by between 10 trillion and 20 trillion yen ($90.7 billion to $181.3 billion) to about 80 trillion yen ($725 billion) annually.

Confirmation of the change in the Government Pension Investment Fund's asset allocations came after the close of trading. Its holdings of bonds will fall from about 60% to 35%. Holdings of shares will rise to about 50%, with half in domestic shares and half in foreign shares.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 1.1% uin early trade, France's CAC 40 jumped 1.8% and Germany's DAX climbed 1.6% to 9,260.95. On Wall Street, S&P 500 and Dow Jones futures were up 1.1% each.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 finished 4.8% higher at 16,413.76 after shedding some of its initial 5% gain. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.3% to 23,998.06 and Seoul's Kospi was up 0.3% at 1,964.43. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% to 5,516.90. Stocks in mainland China, India and Southeast Asia also rose.

In Bangkok, the SET50 index of blue chips ended at 1,053.22 points, up 15.85, on turnover of 20.48 billion baht, and the SET100 rose 33.11 points to 2,333.46 in trade worth 25.9 billion. The SETHD index of high-dividend shares rose 21.16 points to 1,241.59, with turnover of 11.41 billion baht. The Market for Alternative Investment gained 5.64 points to 723.78, with transaction value of 10.77 billion baht.

In the currency markets, the baht was little changed from the previous day but was off 0.4% on the week because of US dollar strength.

The baht was trading late Friday in Bangkok at 32.55 to the dollar compared with 32.55/57 on Thursday and 32.41/43 a week earlier.