Additional Support Forecast For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, collecting more than 25 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,560-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat, with support from the energy stocks likely offset by weakness from the technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead. The SET finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the energy producers.

For the day, the index picked up 7.58 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 1,560.31 after trading between 1,548.10 and 1,563.27. Volume was 18.210 billion shares worth 57.747 billion baht. There were 928 gainers and 732 decliners, with 512 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info dropped 0.99 percent, while Thailand Airport sank 0.71 percent, Banpu advanced 0.76 percent, Bangkok Bank improved 0.76 percent, Bangkok Expressway tumbled 1.72 percent, B. Grimm rallied 2.00 percent, BTS Group shed 0.58 percent, CP All Public rose 0.41 percent, Energy Absolute added 0.63 percent, Gulf gained 0.53 percent, IRPC climbed 1.26 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 2.14 percent, Krung Thai Bank soared 2.58 percent, Krung Thai Card strengthened 1.34 percent, PTT Oil & Retail retreated 1.94 percent, PTT lost 0.72 percent, PTT Exploration and Production skidded 0.94 percent, PTT Global Chemical increased 0.56 percent, SCG Packaging was up 0.47 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skyrocketed 5.15 percent, Siam Concrete slid 0.54 percent, Thai Oil gathered 0.50 percent, True Corporation perked 0.88 percent, TTB Bank collected 2.56 percent and Asset World, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Charoen Pokphand Foods were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened flat on Monday and then bounced up and down throughout the session before finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 90.75 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 31,990.04, while the NASDAQ lost 51.45 points or 0.43 percent to close at 11,782.67 and the S&P 500 rose 5.14 points or 0.13 percent to end at 3,966.77.

Trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

CME Group's FedWatch tool is currently indicating a 77.5 percent chance of a 75-basis point interest rate hike and a 22.5 percent chance of a 100-basis point rate hike.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher on Monday as concerns about outlook for energy demand eased, while the dollar's weakness ahead of the upcoming Fed statement also supported crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $2.00 or 2.1 percent at $96.70 a barrel.