Mild Upside Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winnings streak in which it had picked up almost 20 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,250-point plateau although it figures to move back to the upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with tech shares likely to rise ahead of key earnings news later in the day. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figures to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index dropped 11.41 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 1,251.26 after trading between 1,249.45 and 1,262.93. Volume was 9.804 billion shares worth 59.158 billion baht. There were 340 decliners and 142 gainers, with 172 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 2.41 percent, while Thailand Airport crashed 2.63 percent, Asset World and Charoen Pokphand Foods both sank 0.83 percent, Banpu gained 0.41 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.96 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical weakened 0.96 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 2.78 percent, B. Grimm stumbled 3.91 percent, BTS Group plummeted 4.05 percent, CP All Public tumbled 1.64 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 2.99 percent, Gulf shed 0.52 percent, Kasikornbank slumped 0.91 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.83 percent, Krung Thai Card surrendered 2.63 percent, PTT Oil & Retail cratered 3.88 percent, PTT lost 0.78 percent, PTT Global Chemical skidded 0.92 percent, SCG Packaging declined 1.66 percent, Siam Commercial Bank retreated 1.55 percent, Siam Concrete plunged 3.10 percent, Thai Oil contracted 1.53 percent, True Corporation soared 2.56 percent, TTB Bank added 0.52 percent and PTT Exploration and Production was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mildly positive as the major averages were flat for much of Tuesday before a late push nudged them up into the green at the close.

The Dow gained 135.60 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 45,418.07, while the NASDAQ added 94.98 points or 0.44 percent to close at 21,544.27 and the S&P 500 rose 26.62 points or 0.41 percent to end at 6,465.94.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling and market leader due to report its second quarter results later today. Traders are also keeping an eye on the latest developments in Washington after President Donald Trump said he is removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook from her position. Trump accused her of making false statements on one or more mortgage agreements.

Meanwhile, Trump has threatened to impose "substantial additional tariffs" on countries that do not remove digital taxes and related regulations that harm U.S. tech companies.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday, reflecting concerns about erratic U.S. trade policies. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery tumbled $1.55 or 2.4 percent to $63.25 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to release July figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to rise 4.9 percent on year, easing from 13.1 percent in June. Exports are called higher by an annual 8.2 percent, down from 15.5 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at $600 million following the $1.060 billion surplus a month earlier.