Thai Shares Called Rangebound Again On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 20 points or 1.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,445-point plateau and it's expected to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the global outlook, although weak oil prices limited the upside. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the consumer, industrial, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index slipped 2.99 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 1,443.31 after trading between 1,441.86 and 1,455.39. Volume was 9.491 billion shares worth 50.452 billion baht. There were 311 decliners and 173 gainers, with 179 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.35 percent, while Thailand Airport and Charoen Pokphand Foods both added 0.41 percent, Asset World lost 0.56 percent, Banpu sank 0.83 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.67 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slumped 0.94 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 0.65 percent, BTS Group rallied 3.41 percent, Gulf gathered 0.39 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.33 percent, Krung Thai Card tanked 2.65 percent, PTT Oil & Retail plunged 4.00 percent, PTT retreated 1.48 percent, PTT Exploration and Production skidded 1.15 percent, PTT Global Chemical dropped 0.97 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 4.58 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.44 percent, Siam Concrete increased 0.52 percent, Thai Oil tumbled 2.47 percent, True Corporation improved 0.87 percent, TTB Bank gained 0.56 percent and Krung Thai Bank, B. Grimm, Energy Absolute and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow rallied 440.0.6 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 44,736.57, while the NASDAQ added 51.19 points or 0.48 percent to close at 20,220.36 and the S&P 500 rose 18.03 points or 0.30 percent to end at 5,987.37.

Stocks added to the strong gains posted last week amid a positive reaction to news President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.

Bessent is seen as supportive of the equity markets and an advocate for deficit reduction. He has also called for Trump's planned tariff increases to be implemented gradually, which could reduce the impact on inflation.

However, buying interest waned as the day progressed, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of several key economic reports in the coming days.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday, weighed down by reports that Israel and Hezbollah are likely to reach a cease-fire agreement within the next few days. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $2.30 or 3.2 percent at $68.94 a barrel.