Thai shares were heading for their third straight session of gains on Friday on bargain-hunting by domestic funds, while other Southeast Asian stock markets were range-bound with positive sentiment from the overnight US market underpinning Asia.

The key Thai SET index was up 0.3 per cent, further recovering from a near two-month low hit on Tuesday and trimming its loss on the week to 1.2 per cent.

Shares of food firm Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 3.6 per cent and telecoms firm Advanced Info Service climbed 2.2 per cent, making them top performers on the 50 large-cap index. Buying interests from domestic long-only funds are expected to lift the benchmark, brokers said.

“More institutional investors are launching ‘trigger funds’ this week and next, implying local players see limited downside for SET at the current level. Overall, it could be a sideways up day for Thai stocks,’’ broker KGI Securities said in a report.

Southeast Asian stocks are on track for a weekly loss. Indonesia is set for a weekly decline of 1.6 per cent after five successive weeks of gains, while Singapore was heading for a 1.5 per cent drop and Malaysia for a 1.1 per cent fall.

Investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week for interest rate direction, although an unexpected fall in US retail sales in February helped temper the prospects for an interest rate hike.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up about 0.1 per cent in early trade.

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