Flat Lead Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last nine trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 4.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,185-point plateau and it figures to see little movement on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on the outlook for trade. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, consumer, property, resource, services and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 8.71 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,187.06 after trading between 1,184.86 and 1,191.24. Volume was 9.145 billion shares worth 36.743 billion baht. There were 292 decliners and 212 gainers, with 159 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info jumped 1.73 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 1.44 percent, Banpu improved 0.85 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.70 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical surrendered 2.13 percent, Bangkok Expressway plunged 2.54 percent, B. Grimm dropped 0.87 percent, BTS Group lost 1.29 percent, CP All Public slumped 0.98 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.86 percent, Energy Absolute skyrocketed 17.04 percent, Gulf and TTB Bank both shed 0.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank advanced 0.92 percent, Krung Thai Card retreated 1.23 percent, PTT Oil & Retail strengthened 1.56 percent, PTT sank 0.80 percent, PTT Exploration and Production increased 1.01 percent, PTT Global Chemical climbed 1.07 percent, SCG Packaging lost 0.62 percent, Thai Oil tumbled 1.83 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Siam Concrete, Asset World and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly positive as the major averages spent most of Monday in the red before a late pushed them up and barely over the unchanged line.

The Dow climbed 137.33 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 42,792.07, while the NASDAQ rose 4.36 points or 0.02 percent to close at 19,215.46 and the S&P 500 perked 5.22 points or 0.09 percent to end at 5,963.60.

The initial weakness on Wall Street came in reaction to news that Moody's has downgraded the U.S. debt rating by a notch to Aa1 from Aaa.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seem to remain generally optimistic about the outlook for the markets.

On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators slumped by more than expected in the month of April.

Crude oil prices saw mild upside on Monday after Goldman Sachs raised its outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose $0.17 of 0.27 percent to $62.66 per barrel.