Higher Open Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of two-day winning streak in which it had improved more than 20 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,345-point plateau and it's likely to add to its winnings on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat ahead of the FOMC's rate decision later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the consumer, financial, property, resources and services stocks were capped by weakness from the food, industrial and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rose 4.83 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 1,345.77 after trading between 1,334.26 and 1,347.54. Volume was 7.480 billion shares worth 36.900 billion baht. There were 285 gainers and 179 decliners, with 189 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.35 percent, while Thailand Airport advanced 0.90 percent, Asset World soared 3.90 percent, Banpu plunged 3.74 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.65 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical accelerated 2.14 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.74 percent, B. Grimm jumped 1.94 percent, BTS Group was up 1.61 percent, CP All Public spiked 1.79 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.43 percent, Energy Absolute increased 0.60 percent, Gulf gathered 0.84 percent, Kasikornbank strengthened 1.26 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.49 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rallied 3.48 percent, PTT and Siam Commercial Bank both improved 0.81 percent, PTT Exploration and Production picked up 0.82 percent, SCG Packaging tanked 2.40 percent, Siam Concrete lost 0.65 percent, TTB Bank climbed 1.06 percent and Krung Thai Bank, PTT Global Chemical, True Corporation and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened slightly lower on Tuesday but quickly bounced higher and spent the balance of the session firmly in the green.

The Dow climbed 136.77 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 44,850.35, while the NASDAQ rallied 391.75 points or 2.03 percent to close at 19,733.59 and the S&P 500 gained 55.42 points or 0.92 percent to end at 6,067.70.

The strength on Wall Street came as some traders looked to pick up technology stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the sell-off seen in the sector a day earlier.

Buying interest was subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay watch for the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop by new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in December. Also, the Conference Board said its U.S. consumer confidence index declined from a notably upwardly revised level in January.

Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday amid disruptions to supply from Libya as protesters prevented tankers from loading at the country's two major ports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed higher by $0.60 or about 0.82 percent at $73.77 a barrel.