Thai Stock Market Likely Rangebound Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 30 points or 2.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,260-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher amidst a lack of strong catalysts. The European and U.S. markets finished barely higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the food, consumer, financial and property sectors were offset by weakness from the industrial and technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 1.00 point or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,257.48 after trading between 1,252.73 and 1,263.01. Volume was 8.675 billion shares worth 47.364 billion baht. There were 349 gainers and 160 decliners, with 153 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info sank 0.68 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.58 percent, Asset World improved 2.61 percent, Banpu slumped 0.88 percent, Bangkok Bank strengthened 1.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical rose 0.43 percent, CP All Public surged 2.99 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rallied 2.75 percent, Energy Absolute surged 5.93 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 2.85 percent, Krung Thai Bank soared 3.03 percent, Krung Thai Card dropped 0.96 percent, PTT Oil & Retail lost 0.81 percent, PTT increased 0.80 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.53 percent, SCG Packaging shed 0.63 percent, Siam Commercial Bank accelerated 2.45 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.34 percent, Thai Oil stumbled 1.89 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.79 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.51 percent and B. Grimm, Gulf, PTT Exploration and Production, Bangkok Expressway and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is flat to higher as the major averages spent most of Tuesday in the shallow red before a late push nudged them barely into positive territory at the close.

The Dow added 10.26 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 44,556.34, while the NASDAQ rose 14.49 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,041.26 and the S&P gained 14.95 points or 0.24 percent to end at a record 6,139.58.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders remained on the sidelines following the Presidents' Day holiday on Monday.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York noted a turnaround by regional manufacturing activity in February. Also, the National Association of Home Builders said homebuilder confidence in the U.S. has unexpectedly deteriorated in February.

Oil prices moved higher on Tuesday on supply concerns after Ukraine launched a drone attack on an export pipeline in Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $71.85 a barrel, gaining $1.11, or 1.57 percent.