SET dips 5.15 to 1,581.25

Thai stocks slipped 0.3% on Friday to end a downbeat week as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of key economic data in major economies.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index fell 5.15 points from Thursday to close at 1,581.25, a decrease of 1.1% from the previous Friday's close of 1,598.33. Turnover was 52.2 billion baht, with 12.6 billion shares traded.

The local market is up 5.6% from the end of 2014.

Foreign investors were net sellers on Friday of 749 million baht worth of Thai shares, bringing their net sales for the year to date to 4.3 billion baht. Local institutions were net sellers of 1.07 billion baht while brokers were net buyers of 383.5 million. Individual investors were net sellers of 1.43 billion baht. 

World stock markets were uneven on Friday and Wall Street futures slid ahead of quarterly growth figures that will show whether weakness in China, Japan and Europe has hit the US economy.

European markets swung between gains and losses in early trading. France's CAC 40 was down 0.3% and Germany's DAX was little changed at 10,738.14 while Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.6%. US stocks appeared poised to open with a thud. Dow futures were down 0.7% and S&P 500 futures were off 0.6%.

Investors were looking ahead to US Commerce Department's release later on Friday of the first of three readings for growth in the world's biggest economy, which was estimated to have expanded 3.3% in the fourth quarter.

In Japan, industrial output edged higher in December, suggesting the world's third-largest economy may be turning the corner on a recession brought on by a hefty sales tax hike.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.4% to close at 17,674.39 while South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.1% to 1,949.26. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3% to 5,588.30. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4% to 24,507.05 and China's Shanghai Composite dropped 1.6% to 3,210.36.

In Bangkok, the SET50 index of blue chips ended at 1,050.29 points, down 5.94, on turnover of 27.49 billion baht, and the SET100 shed 10.63 points to 2,330.25 in trade worth 35.3 billion. The SETHD index of high-dividend shares lost 7.56 points to 1,194.54, with turnover of 12.75 billion baht. The Market for Alternative Investment declined 7.93 points to 724.72, with transaction value of 5.52 billion baht.

In the currency markets, the baht was trading late Friday in Bangkok at 32.72/74 to the dollar, compared with 32.70/72 on Thursday and 32.60/62 a week earlier.