Thai Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 40 points or 2.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,600-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast is cautious ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed, and the oversold Asian markets figure to see little movement ahead of the rate decision.

The SET finished slightly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index perked 2.97 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 1,603.03 after trading between 1,590.75 and 1,605.53. Volume was 19.924 billion shares worth 63.139 billion baht. There were 957 decliners and 675 gainers, with 573 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info was up 0.97 percent, while Thailand Airport fell 0.37 percent, Banpu soared 3.08 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.13 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical sank 0.81 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 0.57 percent, CP All Public advanced 0.81 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods improved 0.96 percent, Energy Absolute retreated 1.45 percent, Gulf lost 0.53 percent, IRPC gained 0.59 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.34 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.64 percent, PTT Oil & Retail strengthened 0.96 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.29 percent, PTT Global Chemical rallied 2.21 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.46 percent, True Corporation jumped 1.76 percent, TTB Bank sank 0.80 percent and Krung Thai Card, B. Grimm and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky after the major averages shook off a higher open on Friday. The Dow and S&P quickly turned lower and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ bounced back and forth across the line to finish higher.

The Dow dropped 151.91 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 30,364.83, while the NASDAQ added 19.12 points or 0.18 percent to close at 10,828.35 and the S&P 500 dipped 14.15 points or 0.38 percent to end at 3,735.48.

The choppy trade on Wall Street comes ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points, although forecasts are suggesting a 75-bp increase.

In economic news, the Labor Department said producer prices increased on a monthly basis but eased off a 21-year high annually.

Crude oil futures drifted lower Tuesday on reports of a likely proposal to impose a federal surtax on oil companies to curb rising inflation. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $2.00 or 1.7 percent at $118.93 a barrel.