Thai Stock Market May Challenge Resistance At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, climbing almost 25 points or 1.4 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,580-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to bargain hunting and easing crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the food, finance, industrial, property, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index climbed 16.36 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 1,579.03 after trading between 1,560.85 and 1,581.48. Volume was 10.205 billion shares worth 63.532 billion baht. There were 236 gainers and 184 decliners, with 220 stocks finishing unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow gained 146.42 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 52,361.58, while the NASDAQ jumped 214.04 points or 0.82 percent to close at 26,169.38 and the S&P 500 improved 53.09 points or 0.70 percent to end at 7,676.77.

The rebound on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels after the indexes fell to multi-month lows last week.

Traders are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, with the central bank widely expected to leave rates unchanged. With a quarter-point rate hike still expected at the Fed's December meeting, traders are likely to keep a close eye on the accompanying statement.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday on reports that a delegation from Qatar has visited Iran to discuss de-escalation of regional conflicts. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $1.27 or 1.27 percent at $102.00 per barrel.