Thai Shares: Strong Resistance At 1,300 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 15 points or 1.2 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,290-point plateau although it figures to see little movement on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with optimism over earnings likely offset by profit taking. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the finance, industrial and technology sectors were offset by weakness from the food, resource and service companies.

For the day, the index added 6.25 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 1,290.72 after trading between 1,286.83 and 1,290.42. Volume was 6.778 billion shares worth 34.370 billion baht. There were 213 gainers and 210 decliners, with 224 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport crashed 1.24 percent, while Asset World advanced 0.94 percent, Banpu increased 1.86 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.30 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gained 1.01 percent, Bangkok Expressway sank 0.98 percent, B. Grimm expanded 1.31 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 1.84 percent, Gulf skidded 1.10 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 2.60 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 1.98 percent, Krung Thai Card stumbled 1.65 percent, PTT Oil & Retail vaulted 1.46 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.93 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.67 percent, SCG Packaging surged 4.65 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rallied 2.29 percent, Siam Concrete added 0.49 percent, True Corporation improved 1.85 percent, TTB Bank accelerated 2.20 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Advanced Info, PTT, Thai Oil, CP All Public and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday and hugged the line for most of the day, finally finishing on opposite sides and little changed.

The Dow gained 218.16 points or 0.47 percent to finish at a record 46,924.74, while the NASDAQ slipped 36.88 points or 0.16 percent to end at 22,953.67 and the S&P 500 perked 0.22 points or 0.00 percent to close at 6,735.35.

The advanced by the Dow reflected a positive reaction to solid earnings news from companies like 3M (MMM), Coca-Cola (KO), Salesforce (CRM), Amazon (AMZN) and Sherwin-Williams (SHW).

Traders may have been reluctant to continue buying stocks amid lingering concerns about U.S.-China trade tensions and the ongoing government shutdown.

A lack of major U.S. economic data due in part to the shutdown may also have kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data on Friday.

Crude oil prices advanced on Tuesday as easing U.S.-China trade friction overrode a stronger greenback and excess supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.38 or 0.66 percent at $57.90 per barrel.