Rally May Stall For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 30 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,110-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with support from the oil companies offsetting weakness among the technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 20.45 points or 1.88 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,110.01 after moving as low as 1,086.56. Volume was 8.448 billion shares worth 41.714 billion baht. There were 338 gainers and 146 decliners, with 171 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info jumped 1.80 percent, while Thailand Airport added 1.65 percent, Asset World rallied 2.23 percent, Banpu gained 2.49 percent, Bangkok Expressway climbed 0.84 percent, B. Grimm soared 3.85 percent, BTS Group sank 0.56 percent, CP All Public picked up 1.14 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.17 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 4.03 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 1.67 percent, Gulf surged 3.87 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.65 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rose 0.88 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 1.37 percent, PTT Global Chemical increased 1.51 percent, SCG Packaging accelerated 2.35 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.43 percent, Siam Concrete expanded 1.19 percent, Thai Oil was up 0.93 percent, TTB Bank climbed 1.06 percent, Bangkok Bank strengthened 1.44 percent, Krung Thai Bank advanced 0.94 percent, True Corporation added 0.90 percent, PTT gathered 1.67 percent and Bangkok Dusit Medical gained 0.96 percent.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and finished in the same fashion.

The Dow rallied 400.17 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 44,494.94, while the NASDAQ tumbled 166.85 points or 0.82 percent to end at 20,202.89 and the S&P 500 slipped 6.94 points or 0.11 percent to close at 6,198.01.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came following the strong performance seen in recent sessions, which saw the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 reach new record highs.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington, D.C., where the Senate narrowly voted to approve President Donald Trump's massive tax cuts and spending bill.

On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management noted a modest increase by its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity in June. Also, the Labor Department saw an unexpected increase by job openings in the U.S. in May.

Crude oil rose modestly on Tuesday as attention shifts to the OPEC cartel's supposed plans to increase output even as the Middle East remains uneventful. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery traded at $65.40 per barrel, up $0.29 or 0.45 percent.