Thai Stock Market May Extend Winning Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in six straight trading days, advancing almost 55 points or 3.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,570-point plateau and it's got a green light again for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, thanks mostly to easing oil prices. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the finance, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 17.59 points or 1.13 percent to finish at 1,570.95 after trading between 1,559.58 and 1,581.74. Volume was 11.855 billion shares worth 70.314 billion baht. There were 252 gainers and 190 decliners, with 215 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.28 percent, while Thailand Airport advanced 0.93 percent, Asset World jumped 1.75 percent, Banpu strengthened 1.72 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.29 percent, B. Grimm expanded 1.47 percent, BTS Group improved 0.98 percent, Energy Absolute skyrocketed 9.26 percent, Gulf climbed 1.21 percent, Kasikornbank perked 0.25 percent, Krung Thai Card vaulted 1.69 percent, PTT Exploration and Production contracted 1.37 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.70 percent, SCG Packaging shed 0.42 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.37 percent, Siam Concrete slumped 0.87 percent, Thai Oil expanded 1.64 percent, True Corporation retreated 1.45 percent, TTB Bank dropped 0.85 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Krung Thai Bank, PTT Oil & Retail, PTT, CP All Public, Bangkok Expressway and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mildly positive as the major averages spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the line before ending little changed with a slight upside bias - but enough for all three to hit record closing highs..

The Dow climbed 182.60 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 50,644.28, while the NASDAQ added 18.55 points or 0.07 percent to close at 26,674.73 and the S&P 500 perked 1.24 points or 0.02 percent to end at 7,520.36.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength, while optimism about an eventual end to the conflict between the U.S. and Iran continues weigh on oil prices.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Wednesday as investors continue to anticipate a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, despite the hard line from the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $5.05 or 5.38 percent at $88.84 per barrel.

Traders may also have been somewhat reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of key U.S. economic data later today, including the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.