Overbought Thai Bourse Nonetheless Called Higher On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in nine straight sessions, gathering almost 55 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,415-point plateau and it's got a positive lead again for Wednesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on strength from technology shares and optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 4.62 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 1,413.45 after trading between 1,406.50 and 1,408.17. Volume was 7.701 billion shares worth 33.949 billion baht. There were 233 decliners and 232 gainers, with 182 stocks finishing unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street upbeat as the major averages opened modestly higher on Tuesday and continued to tick higher as the day progressed.

The Dow climbed 159.36 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 37,545.33, while the NASDAQ added 81.60 points or 0.54 percent to close at 15,074.57 and the S&P 500 rose 20.12 points or 0.42 percent to end at 4,774.75.

A surge by shares of Intel (INTC) provided a boost to the markets following news the Israeli government will give the company a $3.2 billion grant toward the construction of a new $25 billion chip-making facility in southern Israel.

Stocks also continued to benefit from optimism about the outlook for interest rates following last week's tamer-than-expected consumer price inflation data.

On the heels of the data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating a 72.7 percent chance the Federal Reserve will cut rates by a quarter point in March.

Oil prices surged higher Tuesday amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and concerns over trade disruptions following attacks on ships. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February jumped $2.01 or 2.7 percent at $75.57 a barrel.