Rally May Stall For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost a dozen points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,610-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets mixed to lower amid soft earnings news and ahead of the FOMC's policy announcement later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index perked 2.69 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 1,608.76 after trading between 1,605.76 and 1,619.08. Volume was 17.713 billion shares worth 55.915 billion baht. There were 874 decliners and 756 gainers, with 559 stocks finishing unchanged,

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.06 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.68 percent, Asset World spiked 2.52 percent, Banpu strengthened 1.63 percent, Bangkok Bank advanced 1.04 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.84 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 1.08 percent, B. Grimm shed 0.74 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods skidded 0.98 percent, Energy Absolute retreated 1.28 percent, Gulf lost 0.49 percent, IRPC gained 0.64 percent, Kasikornbank rallied 2.46 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.57 percent, Krung Thai Card fell 0.44 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slid 0.41 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 0.55 percent, PTT Global Chemical soared 2.35 percent, SCG Packaging slumped 0.48 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete was up 0.31 percent, Thai Oil surged 2.83 percent, True Corporation gathered 0.40 percent, TTB Bank jumped 0.74 percent and BTS Group, CP All Public and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and remained that way throughout the session.

The Dow slumped 128.85 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 32,732.95, while the NASDAQ sank 114.31 points or 1.03 percent to end at 10,988.15 and the S&P 500 dropped 29.08 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,871.98.

The Dow posted a gain of almost 14 percent in October, the biggest monthly return since January 1976. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, last month.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by another 75 basis points - its fourth straight rate hike - to fight soaring inflation.

Also weighing were disappointing earnings results from the likes of Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon Inc (AMZN), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.TO), Meta Platforms Inc (META) and Intel (INTC).

Crude oil prices fell Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China following a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases. A rise in oil output in the U.S., and a firm dollar also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $1.37 or 1.6 percent at $86.53 a barrel.