Thai Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 10 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just shy of the 1,380-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity with the outlook for interest rates shrouded in uncertainty. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the consumption, finance, industrial and technology sectors were offset by weakness from the food and resource companies.

For the day, the index perked 1.54 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,379.48 after trading between 1,374.24 and 1,384.32. Volume was 7.995 billion shares worth 27.472 billion baht. There were 244 gainers and 223 decliners, with 192 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World advanced 0.98 percent, while Banpu improved 0.90 percent, Bangkok Expressway rallied 1.23 percent, BTS Group gained 0.88 percent, CP All Public lost 0.46 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.62 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.59 percent, PTT Oil & Retail strengthened 1.12 percent, PTT sank 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production declined 1.31 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 3.27 percent, SCG Packaging and True Corporation both soared 2.63 percent, Siam Concrete climbed 1.17 percent, Thai Oil plunged 2.52 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Card, Advanced Info, B. Grimm, Energy Absolute, Gulf, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but spent most of the day in the red, although the NASDAQ ticked back up into the green by the session's end.

The Dow slumped 240.52 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 39,566.85, while the NASDAQ added 17.37 points or 0.11 percent to close at 16,396.83 and the S&P 500 fell 10.58 points or 0.20 percent to end at 5,243.77.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders finally had an opportunity to react to last Friday's closely watched U.S. consumer price inflation data, which largely matched expectations.

Buying interest remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders expressed uncertainty about whether inflation is slowing quickly enough to guarantee the interest rate cuts expected by the Federal Reserve.

The subsequent pullback by stocks came as a report from the Institute for Supply Management unexpectedly showing modest growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in March contributed to a jump by Treasury yields.

Oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about a possible drop in supplies following reports of an Israeli strike near the Iranian embassy in Damascus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.54 or 0.65 percent at $83.71 a barrel.