Thai Stock Market Overdue For Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has climbed higher in nine straight sessions, advancing almost 80 points or 5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,680-point plateau although investors are likely to cash in on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to rising recession fears. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials were offset by weakness from the energy producers.

For the day, the index climbed 10.31 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 1,678.97 after trading between 1,673.29 and 1,683.38. Volume was 11.907 billion shares worth 65.002 billion baht. There were 885 decliners and 623 gainers, with 447 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.26 percent, while Asset World improved 0.79 percent, Banpu tanked 2.19 percent, Bangkok Bank rallied 2.03 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.86 percent, Bangkok Expressway retreated 1.53 percent, BTS Group added 0.60 percent, CP All Public jumped 1.83 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods sank 0.81 percent, Energy Absolute skidded 1.03 percent, Gulf lost 0.45 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.02 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.56 percent, Krung Thai Card and PTT Exploration and Production both dropped 0.85 percent, PTT Oil & Retail declined 1.26 percent, PTT stumbled 1.50 percent, PTT Global Chemical slumped 1.06 percent, SCG Packaging gained 0.44 percent, Thai Oil was down 0.89 percent, True Corporation rose 0.41 percent and TTB Bank, Thailand Airport, B. Grimm, Siam Commercial Bank and Siam Concrete were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off early support on Tuesday, quickly turning lower and spending the rest of the day in the red.

The Dow shed 1088 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,136.37, while the NASDAQ lost 79.50 points or 0.76 percent to end at 10,386.98 and the S&P 500 fell 15.36 points or 0.40 percent to close at 3,824.14.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders looked to get the New Year started on a positive note following a dismal 2022. For last year, the NASDAQ plummeted 33.1 percent, the S&P 500 lost 19.4 percent and the Dow sank 8.8 percent.

A report from the International Monetary Fund says about one third of the world economy will likely go into a recession this year. A rebound from treasuries also added to the negative sentiment.

A report released by the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a modest increase in U.S. construction spending in the month of November.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to rising fears of a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $3.33 or 4.2 percent at $76.93 a barrel, a two-week low.