Rally May Stall For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gaining almost 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just shy of the 1,435-point plateau although it's expected to run out of steam on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with technology and oil stocks likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were mostly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology, resource, services, industrial and financial sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 17.53 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 1,433.38 after trading between 1,413.57 and 1,434.21. Volume was 11,223 billion shares worth 43.277 billion baht. There were 442 gainers and 98 decliners, with 116 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gathered 0.46 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 4.18 percent, Asset World spiked 2.25 percent, Banpu strengthened 1.47 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.64 percent, Bangkok Expressway perked 1,26 percent, B. Grimm surged 2.75 percent, BTS Group increased 1.38 percent, CP All Public gained 0.89 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods slumped 1.53 percent, Energy Absolute skyrocketed 5.08 percent, Gulf climbed 1.12 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.37 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.54 percent, Krung Thai Card jumped 1.72 percent, PTT Oil & Retail accelerated 2.09 percent, PTT sank 0.70 percent, PTT Exploration and Production advanced 1.00 percent, SCG Packaging improved 0.69 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 0.98 percent, Thai Oil lost 0.93 percent, True Corporation soared 2.97 percent, TTB Bank added 0.60 percent and Siam Commercial Bank, PTT Global Chemical and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averaged opened lower on Tuesday and only the Dow was able to peek barely into positive territory by the session's end.

The Dow rose 25.50 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 37,715.04, while the NASDAQ tumbled 245.41 points or 1.63 percent to end at 14,765.94 and the S&P 500 sank 27.00 points or 0.57 percent to close at 4,742.83.

The weakness in the broader markets came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength, particularly among technology stocks.

A steep drop by shares of Apple (AAPL) weighed on the tech sector, with the iPhone maker tumbling by 3.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month after Barclays downgraded its rating on the company's stock to Underweight from Equal Weight.

The price of crude oil couldn't hold early gains and showed a substantial downturn on Tuesday over escalating Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged nearly $2 to a high of $73.64 a barrel early in the session but pulled back sharply to close down $1.27 or 1.8 percent at $70.38 a barrel.