Thai Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, gathering almost 35 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,105-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement as geopolitical concerns appear to have taken a breather. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, services and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rose 7.68 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 1,107.69 after trading between 1,090.74 and 1,110.44. Volume was 12.980 billion shares worth 62.662 billion baht. There were 273 gainers and 204 decliners, with 177 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.36 percent, while Thailand Airport expanded 4.92 percent, Asset World surged 4.05 percent, Banpu retreated 1.40 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.72 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gained 0.48 percent, Bangkok Expressway spiked 4.20 percent, B. Grimm rallied 4.81 percent, BTS Group increased 1.69 percent, CP All Public shed 0.56 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tumbled 1.75 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.55 percent, Gulf slumped 1.20 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.32 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.92 percent, Krung Thai Card surged 6.00 percent, PTT Oil & Retail accelerated 1.89 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.45 percent, PTT Global Chemical added 0.50 percent, SCG Packaging soared 3.66 percent, Siam Concrete strengthened 1.20 percent, Thai Oil improved 1.83 percent, True Corporation jumped 1.85 percent and TTB Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed and spent the whole day hugging the line before ending little changed.

The Dow dropped 106.59 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 42,982.43, while the NASDAQ added 61.02 points or 0.31 percent to close at 19,973.55 and the S&P 500 eased 0.02 points or 0.00 percent to end at 6,092.16.

The initial strength on Wall Street reflected recent upward momentum, which saw stocks move sharply higher over the two previous sessions.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders continue to monitor developments in the Middle East following yesterday's news of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The subsequent pullback likely was profit taking after the major averages reached their highest intraday levels in four months.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed a substantial pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in May.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday as an EIA report indicated a draw in crude oil inventories and a surge in U.S. gasoline demand to a three-and-a-half-year high. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery closed up by $0.55 to settle at $64.92 per barrel.