Additional Support Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 25 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,230-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on bargain hunting and optimism for an interest rate cut. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the finance, industrial, property, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index improved 11.07 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 1,229.40 after trading between 1,212.68 and 1,231.11. Volume was 9.875 billion shares worth 44.358 billion baht. There were 255 decliners and 193 gainers, with 203 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.69 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.63 percent, Asset World climbed 0.98 percent, Banpu gathered 0.41 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.34 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gained 1.44 percent, BTS Group lost 0.58 percent, CP All Public spiked 2.23 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods stumbled 2.14 percent, Energy Absolute retreated 1.42 percent, Gulf rallied 2.21 percent, Kasikornbank collected 1.25 percent, Krung Thai Card advanced 0.90 percent, PTT Oil & Retail accelerated 3.03 percent, PTT sank 0.78 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.81 percent, PTT Global Chemical strengthened 1.27 percent, Siam Commercial Bank improved 1.20 percent, Siam Concrete soared 3.05 percent, Thai Oil slumped 2.22 percent, True Corporation surged 4.85 percent and TTB Bank, Krung Thai Bank, SCG Packaging, B. Grimm and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened solidly higher on Monday and closed in similar fashion, cutting into Friday's steep losses.

The Dow jumped 585.06 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 44,173.64, while the NASDAQ rallied 403.45 points or 1.95 percent to end at 21,053.58 and the S&P 500 gained 91.93 points or 1.47 percent to close at 6,329.94.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the recent sell-off, which saw the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 pull back well off their record highs.

The steep drop last Friday came amid concerns about the economic impact of President Donald Trump's new tariffs, weaker than expected jobs data and a slump by shares of Amazon (AMZN).

Optimism the weak jobs data will lead the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates next month also contributed to the buying interest. According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, the chances of a quarter point rate cut in September have jumped to 91.9 percent from 63.1 percent a week ago.

Crude oil continued to decline on Monday thanks to oversupply concerns and fears of a tariff-induced slowdown by the global economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.06 or 1.57 percent at $66.27 per barrel.