Thai Shares Due For Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slipping more than 5 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,380-point plateau although it may find traction on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are tipped to at least open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the food, industrial, resource and service stocks were mitigated by support from the consumer, finance, property and technology sectors.

For the day, the index eased 0.60 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 1,379.63 after trading between 1,374.69 and 1,385.65. Volume was 23.899 billion shares worth 41.011 billion baht. There were 247 decliners and 194 gainers, with 208 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.47 percent, while Asset World added 0.53 percent, Banpu plunged 2.68 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.72 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 0.61 percent, B. Grimm tumbled 1.71 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.41 percent, Green Resources skyrocketed 9.09 percent, Gulf increased 0.56 percent, Kasikornbank improved 0.82 percent, Krung Thai Card climbed 1.12 percent, PTT Oil & Retail skidded 1.10 percent, PTT rose 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 1.01 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.66 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.87 percent, Siam Commercial Bank shed 0.44 percent, Thai Oil sank 0.88 percent, True Corporation surged 3.31 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.61 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Concrete, CP All Public, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Thailand Airport and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday but quickly moved solidly to the upside and finished comfortably in the green.

The Dow soared 235.83 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 39,005.49, while the NASDAQ surged 246.36 points or 1.54 percent to end at 16,265.64 and the S&P 500 rallied 57.33 points or 1.12 percent to close at 5,175.27.

The strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation in February.

While core price growth slowed slightly less than expected, the slowdown still seems to have added to optimism about the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates in June.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release a separate report on Thursday on producer price inflation for February.

Oil futures settled lower again on Tuesday on the U.S. inflation data and persisting worries about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April sank $0.37 at $77.56 a barrel.