Thai Stock Market Due For Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than 20 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,300-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European and U.S. markets finished slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The SET finished barely lower on Monday as losses from the food and service sectors were offset by support from the resource and technology stocks.

For the day, the index eased 1.61 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 1,299.35 after trading between 1,296.11 and 1,306.28. Volume was 7.167 billion shares worth 29.761 billion baht. There were 268 decliners and 210 gainers. Among the actives, Advanced Info advanced 0.96 percent, while Thailand Airport slumped 1.73 percent, Asset World and Bangkok Bank both climbed 1.15 percent, Banpu improved 0.81 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical plunged 2.80 percent, Bangkok Expressway strengthened 0.65 percent, B. Grimm tumbled 1.85 percent, BTS Group retreated 1.79 percent, CP All Public was up 0.45 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.87 percent, Energy Absolute skyrocketed 12.50 percent, Gulf shed 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Card gained 0.61 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gathered 0.66 percent, PTT Global Chemical jumped 1.64 percent, SCG Packaging sank 0.74 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.49 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.44 percent, Thai Oil rallied 1.89 percent, True Corporation increased 0.57 percent, TTB Bank added 0.58 percent and Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, PTT Oil & Retail and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the markets opened slightly higher on Monday and hugged the line for much of the day before moving firmly into the green by the close.

The Dow added 50.66 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 39,169.52, while the NASDAQ rallied 146.70 points or 0.83 percent to end at 17,879.30 and the S&P 500 gained 14.61 points or 0.27 percent to close at 5,475.09.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. The report, which is expected to show a slowdown in the pace of job growth in June, could impact the outlook for interest rates.

Traders may also be sticking to the sidelines ahead of remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday as well as the Independence Day holiday on Thursday.

On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing manufacturing activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in June. Also, the Commerce Department noted a slight decrease in U.S. construction spending in May.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, on expectations of higher demand, supply concerns and production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.84 or about 2.2 percent at $83.38 a barrel.