Thai Shares Due For Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, advancing almost 65 points or 4.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,490-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on ongoing geopolitical concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rallied 27.24 points or 1.86 percent to finish at 1,493.91 after trading between 1,471.12 and 1,496.61. Volume was 12.539 billion shares worth 94.763 billion baht. There were 397 gainers and 115 decliners, with 168 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info perked 0.26 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.88 percent, Asset World soared 3.76 percent, Banpu accelerated 3.36 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.19 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical elevated 2.76 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 3.36 percent, B. Grimm rallied 2.58 percent, BTS Group was up 3.08 percent, CP All Public increased 4.31 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rose 0.46 percent, Energy Absolute strengthened 1.84 percent, Gulf improved 0.84 percent, Kasikornbank dropped 0.97 percent, Krung Thai Card sank 0.73 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 1.38 percent, PTT expanded 3.45 percent, PTT Exploration and Production vaulted 3.70 percent, PTT Global Chemical jumped 1.83 percent, SCG Packaging surged 4.37 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 1.02 percent, Siam Concrete gathered 0.45 percent, Thai Oil skyrocketed 4.43 percent, TTB Bank spiked 2.73 percent and Krung Thai Bank and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent the entire session under water, ending off session lows.

The Dow stumbled 267.50 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 49,395.16, while the NASDAQ dropped70.91 points or 0.31 percent to close at 22,682.73 and the S&P 500 slipped 19.42 points or 0.28 percent to end at 6,861.89.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected a negative reaction to earnings news from Walmart (WMT) after the company provided weaker than expected earnings guidance for the current year.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated by a continued spike by the price of crude oil amid concerns about a military conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

However, traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched readings on consumer price inflation on Friday. The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil prices jumped again on Thursday amid concerns about a military conflict between the U.S. and Iran, with reports suggesting American military intervention may be imminent. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery was up $1.25 or 1.9 percent to $66.44 a barrel.