Thai Stock Market Due For Consolidation On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 50 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,515-point plateau although investors may cash in on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement amidst a lack of catalysts and ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were closed for the Independence Day holiday and the Asian markets figure to see a steady start.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology, financial service and industrial stocks.

For the day, the index added 8.47 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 1,515.31 after trading between 1,502.50 and 1,520.02. Volume was 12.255 billion shares worth 44.303 billion baht. There were 359 gainers and 120 decliners, with 161 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.94 percent, while Asset World advanced 0.83 percent, Banpu increased 1.12 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.63 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.90 percent, B. Grimm gathered 0.71 percent, BTS Group improved 1.30 percent, CP All Public rallied 1.59 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods climbed 1.02 percent, Gulf perked 0.53 percent, Kasikornbank strengthened 1.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.52 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 0.95 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.66 percent, PTT Global Chemical improved 1.32 percent, Siam Commercial Bank jumped 1.86 percent, Thai Oil added 0.56 percent, True Corporation spiked 2.31 percent, TTB Bank rallied 1.95 percent and SCG Packaging, Siam Concrete, Energy Absolute, PTT, Thailand Airport and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

There is no lead from Wall Street, although the European markets saw mild consolidation on disappointing economic data, while Canadian shares ticked slightly higher on gains from energy companies.

Traders will look to the minutes of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later today, along with the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Recent data has pointed to a resilient U.S. economy, while slowing inflation has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Fed is still widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point later this month, but traders are hopeful that will be end of the rate-hiking cycle.

Closer to home, Thailand will release June figures for consumer prices later today, with overall inflation expected to slip 0.16 percent on year after rising 0.53 percent in May. Core CPI is tipped to rise 1.40 percent on year, easing from 1.55 percent in the previous month.