Thai Shares May See Renewed Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Tuesday ended the five-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 50 points or 3.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just shy of the 1,315-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mildly positive ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, property, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 9.24 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 1,314.28 after trading between 1,311.41 and 1,331.69. Volume was 7.629 billion shares worth 44.039 billion baht. There were 304 decliners and 157 gainers, with 191 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info stumbled 1.61 percent, while Thailand Airport improved 1.27 percent, Asset World sank 0.92 percent, Banpu tanked 2.25 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical skidded 1.56 percent, Bangkok Expressway soared 2.97 percent, B. Grimm added 0.62 percent, BTS Group was down 0.70 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.38 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 5.10 percent, Gulf surrendered 2.16 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.94 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 1.71 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 0.69 percent, PTT declined 1.60 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 1.35 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 2.90 percent, SCG Packaging climbed 1.10 percent, Thai Oil lost 0.69 percent, True Corporation contracted 1.75 percent, TTB Bank collected 1.09 percent and Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Siam Concrete and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending at fresh record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 161.78 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 47,706.37, while the NASDAQ jumped 190.04 points or 0.80 percent to close at 23,827.49 and the S&P added 15.73 points or 0.23 percent to end at 6,890.89.

The strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from recent upward momentum amid optimism about a potential trade deal between the U.S. and China.

However, traders seemed somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders will look to the accompanying statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday on news that OPEC is leaning toward another modest increase in production in December. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery plunged $1.32 or 2.2 percent to $59.99 a barrel.