Rally May Stall For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than a dozen points along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,615-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing concerns over the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index added 6.73 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 1,616.67 after trading between 1,611.81 and 1,618.86. Volume was 10.513 billion shares worth 43.072 billion baht. There were 749 gainers and 629 decliners, with 577 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.27 percent, while Thailand Airport shed 0.34 percent, Asset World advanced 0.83 percent, Banpu added 0.74 percent, Bangkok Bank and IRPC both collected 0.69 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.53 percent, B. Grimm lost 0.62 percent, CP All Public increased 0.38 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods improved 0.83 percent, Energy Absolute fell 0.26 percent, Kasikornbank was up 0.35 percent, PTT Oil & Retail climbed 1.32 percent, PTT strengthened 1.61 percent, PTT Exploration and Production soared 2.70 percent, PTT Global Chemical retreated 1.65 percent, SCG Packaging gathered 0.45 percent, Siam Concrete perked 0.30 percent, Thai Oil jumped 1.87 percent, True Corporation sank 0.42 percent, TTB Bank rallied 0.74 percent and Bangkok Dusit Medical, BTS Group, Gulf, Krung Thai Bank, Krung Thai Card and Siam Commercial Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened deep in the red and the losses accelerated as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 348.99 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,037.49, while the NASDAQ plunged 233.25 points or 2.18 percent to close at 10,476.12 and the S&P 500 dropped 56.05 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,822.39.

The pullback on Wall Street came as some traders cashed in on Wednesday's gains amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the global economy.

Stocks saw further downside following the release of a report from the Conference Board showing a continued slump by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of November.

Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day winning streak as the dollar advanced on rate hike bets. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended $0.80 lower at $77.49 a barrel, falling from a high of $79.90 a barrel.