Thai Stock Market May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,550-point plateau although it may head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft, with selling pressure among the technology stocks likely to tip the markets into the red. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, property, resource and service sectors.

For the day, the index added 7.32 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 1,548.22 after trading between 1,536.37 and 1,553.35. Volume was 8.815 billion shares worth 58.239 billion baht. There were 332 gainers and 115 decliners, with 212 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info retreated 1.40 percent, while Thailand Airport soared 4.74 percent, Asset World rallied 2.34 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.56 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical climbed 1.10 percent, Bangkok Expressway sank 0.83 percent, B. Grimm jumped 1.79 percent, BTS Group accelerated 0.98 percent, CP All Public was up 0.55 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.52 percent, Energy Absolute strengthened 1.33 percent, Gulf vaulted 1.65 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.48 percent, Krung Thai Bank gained 0.69 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 0.79 percent, PTT Oil & Retail expanded 0.83 percent, PTT Exploration and Production skidded 1.13 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.90 percent, Siam Concrete slumped 1.23 percent, True Corporation increased 0.75 percent and TTB Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, PTT Global Chemical, Banpu, PTT and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains, finally finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 182.06 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 51,848.90, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.40 points or 0.43 percent to close at 25,476.63 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.24 points or 0.10 percent to end at 7,358.22.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street, and especially the tech-heavy NASDAQ, was the result of renewed selling among semiconductor stocks over artificial intelligence infrastructure concerns.

The early strength came despite some uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran peace deal amid disagreements between the two nations over a few key terms of the pact.

A slide in crude oil prices also spurred the markets higher as West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $2.87 or 3.92 percent to $70.34 per barrel as shipping traffic picks up across the Strait of Hormuz.

In economic news, data from the Commerce Department showed sales of new single-family homes in the US tumbled 7.3 percent month-over-month in May to the lowest annualized rate of 580,000, following an upwardly revised 626,000 in April.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled release May numbers for imports, exports and trade balance sometime this week; in April, imports were up 45.0 percent and exports climbed an annual 23.1 percent for a trade deficit of $10.020 billion.