Thai Stock Market Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,635-point plateau, although it's likely to see renewed consolidation on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on inflation and interest rate concerns. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the energy producers and mixed performances from the financial shares.

For the day, the index gained 11.87 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,633.87 after trading between 1,624.92 and 1,636.70. Volume was 20.484 billion shares worth 70.060 billion baht. There were 882 gainers and 759 decliners, with 560 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.04 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.35 percent, Asset World soared 3.64 percent, Banpu strengthened 1.40 percent, Bangkok Bank sank 0.72 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.85 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.71 percent, B. Grimm rallied 2.10 percent, BTS Group improved 1.76 percent, CP All Public slipped 0.42 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.98 percent, Energy Absolute surged 4.53 percent, Gulf skyrocketed 9.80 percent, IRPC added 0.61 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 0.98 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.60 percent, Krung Thai Card increased 1.70 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gathered 0.94 percent, PTT perked 0.68 percent, PTT Exploration and Production declined 0.90 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.56 percent, SCG Packaging slumped 0.92 percent, True Corporation was down 0.43 percent, TTB Bank rose 0.79 percent and Siam Commercial Bank, Siam Concrete and Thai Oil were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages quickly moved lower on Tuesday, rebounded midday but then faced renewed consolidation that lasted throughout the rest of the session.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent weakness.

The volatility on the day also came amid a surge in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note jumping to its highest levels in almost three months.

Potentially adding to the worries about interest rates, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity in the U.S. unexpectedly grew at a slightly faster rate in August. The report is a positive sign for the economy but may have led to concerns the Federal Reserve will see the data as an indication that it can continue to aggressively raise interest rates.

Oil futures settled barely higher on Tuesday after the decision by OPEC+ to cut output by 100,000 barrels per day in October, although the dollar's uptick limited oil's upside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by a penny or $0.09% at $86.88 a barrel.