Thai Bourse Expected To Halt Its Slide

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 25 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just shy of the 1,115-point plateau, although it's likely to find traction on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on hopes for an end to hostilities between Israel and Iran. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, finance, consumer, industrial, property and service sectors.

For the day, the index shed 8.21 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,114.49 after trading between 1,107.79 and 1,123.83. Volume was 8.165 billion shares worth 41.122 billion baht. There were 369 decliners and 124 gainers, with 163 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.70 percent, while Thailand Airport crashed 8.40 percent, Banpu declined 1.36 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical added 0.48 percent, Bangkok Expressway stumbled 1.94 percent, B. Grimm plummeted 4.46 percent, BTS Group plunged 2.34 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.98 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 0.68 percent, Gulf soared 2.34 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.45 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tumbled 1.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production contracted 0.88 percent, PTT Global Chemical retreated 1.45 percent, SCG Packaging lost 0.60 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.42 percent, Siam Concrete slid 0.59 percent, Thai Oil tanked 2.54 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.84 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.02 percent and Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Card, PTT and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 317.30 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 42,515.09, while the NASDAQ rallied 294.39 points or 1.52 percent to close at 19,701.21 and the S&P 500 gained 56.14 points or 0.94 percent to end at 6,033.11.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the previous session's nosedive, which came after Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran.

The rebound on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to a meeting of major world leaders at the G7 summit in the Canadian Rockies later this week.

The Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement is also likely to attract attention from traders in the coming days. While the central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the accompanying statement and Fed officials' latest projections may provide more clarity about the outlook for rates.

Crude oil price fell sharply on Monday after reports that Iran signaled its readiness to end its hostility with Israel. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for July delivery closed down by $1.21 to settle at $71.77 per barrel.