Mild Upside Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting just over 5 points or 0.4 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,260-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets murky on an uncertain outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were slightly up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly higher on Wednesday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, industrial and property stocks.

For the day, the index rose 4.79 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 1,262.27 after trading between 1,254.18 and 1,267.72. Volume was 9.214 billion shares worth 52.665 billion baht. There were 392 gainers and 127 decliners, with 147 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rose 0.34 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.57 percent, Asset World increased 0.64 percent, Banpu rallied 1.78 percent, Bangkok Bank spiked 2.88 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical shed 0.43 percent, B. Grimm retreated 1.52 percent, BTS Group was up 1.68 percent, CP All Public dropped 0.97 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods accelerated 2.68 percent, Energy Absolute sank 0.70 percent, Gulf plunged 2.59 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Bank improved 0.84 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.49 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 1.63 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 0.39 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.52 percent, SCG Packaging slumped 1.27 percent, Siam Commercial Bank strengthened 1.20 percent, Siam Concrete skidded 1.01 percent, Thai Oil soared 2.88 percent, True Corporation surged 4.76 percent, TTB Bank jumped 1.51 percent and PTT and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but trended upward throughout the day, finally ending mildly to the upside.

The Dow gained 71.25 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 44,627.59, while the NASDAQ rose 14.99 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,056.25 and the S&P 500 perked 14.57 points or 0.24 percent to end at 6,144.15.

The rebound also came even though the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting revealed that officials want to see further progress on inflation before they consider resuming lowering interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said housing starts pulled back by more than expected in January.

Oil futures settled higher Wednesday, extending gains from previous session amid concerns about the outlook for supplies after a recent drone attack by Ukraine on a Russian pumping station. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.40 or 0.56 percent at $72.25 a barrel.