Thai Shares May Test Resistance At 1,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up just 3 points or 0.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,390-point plateau and it my inch slightly higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with a lack of direction over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index advanced 12.54 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 1,393.61 after trading between 1,379.02 and 1,395.11. Volume was 26.116 billion shares worth 64.910 billion baht. There were 294 gainers and 184 decliners, with 177 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info dropped 0.97 percent, while Thailand Airport perked 0.40 percent, Asset World rallied 2.06 percent, Banpu advanced 2.59 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.06 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical was up 2.70 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 0.64 percent, B. Grimm sank 0.89 percent, BTS Group slumped 0.92 percent, CP All Public rose 0.88 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods surged 5.06 percent, Energy Absolute gathered 1.32 percent, Gulf added 0.56 percent, Kasikornbank accelerated 2.06 percent, Krung Thai Bank jumped 1.88 percent, Krung Thai Card and SCG Packaging both strengthened 1.74 percent, PTT Oil & Retail lost 0.53 percent, PTT increased 0.70 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gained 2.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical soared 4.70 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skyrocketed 6.73 percent, Siam Concrete improved 1.52 percent, Thai Oil fell 0.43 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.06 percent and True Corporation was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and spent the vast majority of the session in the red, with only a late spurt lifting the Dow and S&P barely into the green.

The Dow added 48.44 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 38,612.24, while the NASDAQ lost 49.91 points or 0.32 percent to close at 15,580.87 and the S&P 500 rose 6.29 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,981.80.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates weighed on the markets for much of the session, with the major averages falling to their worst levels after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting revealed most officials remain wary of cutting interest rates "too quickly."

However, the Fed said a couple of participants pointed to downside risks to the economy associated with maintaining an overly restrictive stance for too long. The late-day recovery may have reflected expectations the Fed will still eventually cut interest rates.

Oil prices rebounded from early losses and settled higher on Wednesday as concerns about supply disruptions in the Middle East outweighed weak outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.87 or 1.1 percent at $77.91 a barrel.