Higher Open Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 20 points or 1.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,370-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with technology stocks expected to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 12.11 points or 0.87 percent to finish at 1,372.65 after trading between 1,370.69 and 1,390.84. Volume was 7.861 billion shares worth 37.273 billion baht. There were 409 decliners and 102 gainers, with 160 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tanked 2.46 percent, while Thailand Airport dipped 0.42 percent, Asset World weakened 1.15 percent, Banpu crashed 8.47 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.66 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 2.03 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 0.70 percent, B. Grimm tumbled 7.89 percent, BTS Group sank 3.31 percent, CP All Public fell 0.89 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods surrendered 2.62 percent, Energy Absolute declined 4.04 percent, Gulf dropped 2.17 percent, Kasikornbank rallied 2.27 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.47 percent, Krung Thai Card gained 0.50 percent, PTT Oil & Retail cratered 4.62 percent, PTT Exploration and Production improved 1.21 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 3.92 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 5.13 percent, Siam Concrete stumbled 2.71 percent, Thai Oil slumped 2.83 percent, True Corporation retreated 4.31 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.08 percent and Siam Commercial Bank and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday and largely remained that way, although the Dow dipped into the red by the day's end.

The Dow shed 25.57 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 42,706.56, while the NASDAQ rallied 243.30 points or 1.24 percent to close at 19,864.98 and the S&P 500 added 32.91 points or 0.55 percent to end at 5,975.38.

The early rally on Wall Street reflected continued strength among tech stocks after contract electronics giant Foxconn reported record fourth quarter revenue amid strong AI server demand.

Early buying interest was also generated in reaction to reports suggesting President-elect Donald Trump may scale back his tariff plans.

Crude oil prices were unable to hold early gains on Monday, snapping a five-day winning streak - although the downside was capped after top oil exporter Saudi Arabia raised prices for Asian buyers for the first time in three months. West Texas Intermediate Crude for February delivery fell $0.46 or 0.5 percent to $73.50 a barrel.