Thai Shares Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market bounce higher again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 10 points or 0.8 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,190-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on tariff concerns, particularly among the technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial, property, resource, service and technology sectors were capped by weakness from the food, consumer and industrial companies.

For the day, the index rose 5.43 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 1,190.36 after trading between 1,186.41 and 1,194.65. Volume was 5.997 billion shares worth 26.606 billion baht. There were 231 gainers and 216 decliners, with 217 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slumped 1.09 percent, while Banpu shed 0.46 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.00 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.85 percent, B. Grimm spiked 2.78 percent, BTS Group rallied 1.89 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods improved 0.83 percent, Energy Absolute dropped 0.88 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.31 percent, Krung Thai Bank strengthened 1.25 percent, PTT Oil & Retail surged 5.71 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.42 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.65 percent, SCG Packaging increased 0.72 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 5.61 percent, TTB Bank climbed 1.03 percent and Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Card, Siam Concrete, Asset World, True Corporation, Gulf, PTT, CP All Public and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but all trended lower as the day progressed, ending solidly under water.

The Dow dropped 132.71 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 42,454.79, while the NASDAQ tumbled 372.84 points or 2.04 percent to close at 17,899.02 and the S&P 500 sank 64,45 points or 1.12 percent to end at 5,712.20.

The sharp pullback by the NASDAQ came as big-name tech stocks came under pressure, reflecting ongoing uncertainty about President Donald Trump's tariff plans.

Stocks saw further downside after the White House said Trump plans to announce new tariffs on auto imports later this afternoon.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department noted an unexpected increase by new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of February.

Oil prices moved higher Wednesday on supply concerns after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week, while renewed efforts from the U.S. to limit Venezuelan and Iranian oil exports also boosted prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May closed up $0.65 or about 0.94 percent at $69.65 a barrel.