Thai Bourse May Extend Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day slide in which it had slumped almost 15 points or 1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,340-point plateau and it may see additional support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with energy and technology stocks expected to lead the way, The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SET finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the food, property and service sectors were offset by weakness from the financial, industrial and technology shares.

For the day, the index rose 1.00 point or 0.07 percent to finish at 1,338.32 after trading between 1,333.97 and 1,344.39. Volume was 13.007 billion shares worth 38.642 billion baht. There were 263 decliners and 236 gainers, with 165 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info increased 0.48 percent, while Thailand Airport stumbled 1.17 percent, Asset World gained 0.53 percent, Banpu plunged 3.67 percent, Bangkok Bank sank 0.73 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.92 percent, Bangkok Expressway soared 3.33 percent, B. Grimm retreated 1.23 percent, BTS Group skyrocketed 8.70 percent, CP All Public rallied 2.18 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.43 percent, Gulf gathered 0.63 percent, Kasikornbank slumped 0.77 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.58 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.55 percent, PTT Oil & Retail fell 0.56 percent, PTT perked 0.77 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.16 percent, SCG Packaging improved 0.72 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.42 percent, Thai Oil declined 0.49 percent, True Corporation skidded 1.14 percent, TTB Bank tumbled 1.78 percent and Energy Absolute was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, faded a bit but bounced solidly higher and sent the NASDAQ and S&P to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow added 96.04 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,807.33, while the NASDAQ surged 330.86 points or 1.96 percent to close at 17,187.90 and the S&P 500 rallied 62.69 points or 1.18 percent to end at 5,354.03.

The surge by the NASDAQ came as tech stocks continued to take their cues from Nvidia (NVDA), as the AI darling soared by 5.2 percent to a new record closing high.

The strength on Wall Street also came as a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector job growth in the U.S. slowed by more than expected in the month of May added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Treasury yields moved lower following the release of the jobs data, with the ten-year yield falling to its lowest levels in two months.

Crude oil prices bounced higher from four-month lows after OPEC decided not to extend production cuts. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery was up $1.04 or 1.42 percent to $74.29 per barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to provide May data for consumer prices later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.1 percent on year following the 0.19 percent gain in April. Core CPI is seen higher by an annual 0.36 percent, easing from 0.37 percent in the previous month.