Thai Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market had finished higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 20 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,610-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher, with easing recession fears offset by interest rate concerns. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index added 7.78 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 1,608.87 after trading between 1,589.62 and 1,608.88. Volume was 18.255 billion shares worth 63.266 billion baht. There were 960 decliners and 722 gainers, with 521 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.50 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.35 percent, Asset World advanced 1.00 percent, Banpu retreated 1.56 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.12 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tumbled 1.85 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 1.29 percent, BTS Group gained 0.58 percent, CP All Public improved 1.25 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gathered 0.81 percent, Energy Absolute spiked 2.74 percent, Gulf rallied 2.05 percent, IRPC accelerated 2.41 percent, Kasikornbank jumped 1.70 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Card perked 0.43 percent, PTT soared 2.82 percent, PTT Exploration and Production was up 1.99 percent, PTT Global Chemical increased 1.10 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.45 percent, Siam Commercial Bank surged 3.38 percent, Siam Concrete climbed 1.09 percent, Thai Oil declined 1.96 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.80 percent, TTB Bank jumped 1.71 percent and Bangkok Expressway and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages were unable to hold solid early gains, eventually hugging the line and finishing mixed.

The Dow rose 29.07 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 32,832.54, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.10 points or 0.10 percent to end at 12,644.46 and the S&P 500 eased 5.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 4,140.06.

The early strength on Wall Street extended a recent upward trend; easing concerns about a potential recession may have contributed to the continued upward move following last week's much stronger than expected jobs data.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as the strong jobs data has increased the likelihood of another 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant bets ahead of the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data later this week.

Crude oil prices recovered after early losses and settled sharply higher on Monday as data showed a significant increase in oil purchases by China so far this month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $90.76 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see July results for its consumer confidence index later today; in June, the index score was 41.6.