In the morning session, a stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index to rise between 1,450 and 1,460 points before falling back slightly, in response to rises in regional markets as US non-farm employment increased by 2.5 million and the unemployment rate dropped to 13.3 per cent after an easing of lockdown measures.

“We assess that the negative economic conditions have already bottomed out and the recovery is beginning,” he said.

“The market also gained positive sentiment from the rising price of crude oil. The price rose more than US$40 [Bt1,258.12] per barrel after the Opec+ grouping decided to keep oil production at 9.7 million barrels per day until July.”

The analyst advised investors to beware of mass-sell offs as the SET Index would be under pressure due to signs of “overbuying” and tight valuation.

The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were BAM, MINT, PTT, PTTEP, TOP, BBL, PTTGC, SCB, KBANK and CPALL.

As of 4.30pm, the price of crude oil rose by US$0.22 or 0.56 per cent to $39.77 per barrel, while gold rose by $14.50 or 0.86 per cent, to $1,697.50 per ounce.

Changes in other Asian indices were as follows:

Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 23,178.10, up 314.37 points, or 1.37 per cent.

China’s Shang Hai SE Composite Index closed at 2,937.77, up 6.97 points, or 0.24 per cent, while Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 11,215.76, up 35.16 points, or 0.31 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 24,776.77, up 6.36 points, or 0.026 per cent.

South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,184.29, up 2.42 points, or 0.11 per cent.

Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 11,610.32, up 130.92 points, or 1.14 per cent.