Lower Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in eight straight sessions, adding almost 55 points or 4.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,310-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly higher again on Tuesday following gains from the food, consumer, industrial, property, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index gained 8.41 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 1,308.19 after trading between 1,303.29 and 1,309.90. Volume was 9.315 billion shares worth 47.455 billion baht. There were 349 gainers and 127 decliners, with 181 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.68 percent, while Thailand Airport surged 3.90 percent, Asset World rallied 3.31 percent, Banpu improved 0.82 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.67 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gained 0.48 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 1.44 percent, BTS Group increased 1.81 percent, CP All Public soared 3.13 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.84 percent, Energy Absolute accelerated 2.68 percent, Gulf lost 0.54 percent, Kasikornbank tumbled 1.80 percent, Krung Thai Bank plunged 3.77 percent, Krung Thai Card spiked 3.39 percent, PTT Oil & Retail increased 0.70 percent, PTT jumped 1.53 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slipped 0.43 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 0.90 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.52 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skidded 1.18 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.44 percent and Thai Oil, True Corporation, TTB Bank and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and all ended under water.

The Dow slumped 125.55 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 45,757.90, while the NASDAQ fell 14.79 points or 0.07 percent to close at 22,333.75 and the S&P lost 8.52 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,606.76.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as the Federal Reserve began its two-day monetary policy meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

Crude oil moved sharply higher on Tuesday amid the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war and ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.22 or 1.93 percent at $64.52 per barrel.