Thai Stock Market Poised To Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 30 points or 1.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,610-point plateau and it's tipped to extend its gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on bargain hunting and expectations for solid earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index perked 5.50 point or 0.34 percent to finish at 1,609.94 after trading between 1,605.29 and 1,612.61. Volume was 12.421 billion shares worth 50.881 billion baht. There were 807 decliners and 569 gainers, with 582 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.08 percent, while Thailand Airport shed 0.68 percent, Asset World tanked 2.44 percent, Banpu sank 0.74 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.35 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical jumped 1.79 percent, Bangkok Expressway skidded 1.04 percent, B. Grimm improved 1.27 percent, BTS Group added 0.61 percent, CP All Public advanced 1.15 percent, Energy Absolute lost 0.52 percent, Gulf dropped 0.93 percent, Kasikornbank gathered 1.05 percent, Krung Thai Bank gained 0.56 percent, Krung Thai Card lost 0.85 percent, PTT declined 0.80 percent, PTT Global Chemical fell 0.55 percent, SCG Packaging strengthened 1.36 percent, Siam Commercial Bank increased 0.97 percent, Siam Concrete dipped 0.30 percent, True Corporation was up 0.42 percent and TTB Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, IRPC, PTT Oil & Retail, PTT Exploration and Production and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained solidly in the green throughout the session.

The Dow surged 526.74 points or 1.60 percent to finish at 33,376.48, while the NASDAQ spiked 162.26 points or 1.54 percent to end at 10,709.37 and the S&P 500 jumped 56.82 points or 1.49 percent to close at 3,878.44.

The rally on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from bargain hunting and upbeat earnings news from companies like Nike (NKE) and FedEx (FDX).

In economic news, the Conference Board reported a significant improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in December. But the National Association of Realtors noted a continued slump in U.S. existing home sales in November.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $2.06 at $78.29 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will release November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In October, imports were down 0.3 percent on year and exports fell an annual 5.2 percent for a trade deficit of $150 million.