Rebound Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had more than 20 points or 1.3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,525-point plateau although it's looking at renewed support on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of Wednesday's FOMC interest rate decision. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

For the day, the index shed 5.44 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 1,523.81 after trading between 1,520.77 and 1,537.15. Volume was 14.490 billion shares worth 50.664 billion baht. There were 357 decliners and 129 gainers, with 152 stocks finishing unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened higher, faded as the day progressed but still finished with modest gains.

The Dow jumped 183.55 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 35,411.24, while the NASDAQ rose 26.06 points or 0.19 percent to close at 14,058.87 and the S&P 500 added18.30 points or 0.40 percent to end at 4,554.64.

The markets continued to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has contributed to an 11-day winning streak for the Dow, the longest since February 2017. The recent strength lifted all three major averages to their best levels in over a year last week.

Overall trading activity remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Monday, buoyed by increased demand for gasoline and export cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.67 or 2.2 percent at $78.74 a barrel.