Thai Bourse May Find Support At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for Magha Puja, the Thai stock market had moved lower in eight straight sessions, sinking almost 65 points or 4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,605-point plateau and it should tick higher on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat amidst a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. bourses were little changed and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the energy producers were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 5.76 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 1,606.88. Volume was 17.248 billion shares worth 57.819 billion baht. There were 828 decliners and 591 gainers, with 543 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.50 percent, while Thailand Airport declined 1.74 percent, Asset World stumbled 1.69 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.32 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical rallied 1.82 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 1.09 percent, BTS Group tumbled 1.92 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.45 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 1.33 percent, Kasikornbank jumped 1.82 percent, Krung Thai Bank climbed 1.17 percent, Krung Thai Card fell 0.44 percent, PTT Oil & Retail was down 0.46 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.97 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.52 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.47 percent, Siam Commercial Bank advanced 0.97 percent, Siam Concrete sank 0.61 percent, Thai Oil increased 0.95 percent, TTB Bank strengthened 1.46 percent and True Corporation, CP All Public, Banpu, B. Grimm, Gulf and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded badly in the afternoon, finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 40.47 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 33,431.44, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.27 points or 0.11 percent to close at 11,675.74 and the S&P 500 perked 2.78 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,048.42.

The early strength on Wall Street came as treasury yields moved notably lower amid optimism that the Federal Reserve is close to finishing its aggressive interest rate hikes.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as treasury yields rebounded ahead of congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell - who is due to testify before the Senate Banking Committee later today and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report is also likely to attract attention later in the week.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Monday after Saudi Arabia signaled that it sees oil demand picking up in Asia and Europe by raising most prices for crude shipments to the regions. West Texas International Crude oil futures for April advanced $0.78 or 1 percent at $80.46 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide February numbers for consumer prices later today, with overall inflation tipped to rise 4.20 percent on year - down from 5.02 percent in January. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, is seen higher by an annual 2.05 percent, slowing from 3.04 percent a month earlier.