Thai Stock Market May Hand Back Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the eight-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 65 points or 4 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,620-point plateau although it may face renewed consolidation on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, thanks to renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were firmly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index gained 11.63 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 1,618.51 after trading between 1,612.80 and 1,624.78. Volume was 16.700 billion shares worth 57.545 billion baht. There were 839 gainers and 679 decliners, with 493 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport skidded 1.06 percent, Asset World surged 1.72 percent, Banpu dropped 0.92 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.31 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.89 percent, Bangkok Expressway was up 0.54 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 1.37 percent, BTS Group rallied 1.31 percent, CP All Public gathered 0.40 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gained 0.91 percent, Energy Absolute soared 2.70 percent, Gulf accelerated 1.49 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.08 percent, PTT Oil & Retail perked 0.46 percent, PTT improved 0.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.33 percent, SCG Packaging increased 0.47 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.48 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.83 percent, Thai Oil retreated 1.41 percent, True Corporation plunged 2.33 percent and TTB Bank, PTT Global Chemical, Krung Thai Bank and Krung Thai Card were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday but quickly turned lower, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow plunged 574.98 points or 1.72 percent to finish at 32,856.46, while the NASDAQ sank 145.41 points or 1.25 percent to end at 11,530.33 and the S&P 500 dropped 62.05 points or 1.53 percent to close at 3,986.37.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected a negative reaction to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated semiannual monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

Citing stubbornly elevated inflation and stronger than expected economic data, Powell told lawmakers the "ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated."

Powell also said the Fed would be prepared to reaccelerate the pace of rate hikes and for a longer period if incoming data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted.

Crude oil prices tumbled Tuesday on renewed uncertainty about energy demand, while a surging greenback also weighed on the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April slumped $2.88 or 3.6 percent at $77.58 a barrel.