Higher Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, shedding more than 25 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,280-point plateau although it's due for support on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets continued to be mildly positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors. For the day, the index lost 10.18 points or 0.79 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,282.54 after peaking at 1,296.42. Volume was 8.171 billion shares worth 31.595 billion baht. There were 356 decliners and 128 gainers, with 167 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.68 percent, while Thailand Airport crashed 0.64 percent, Asset World sank 0.83 percent, Banpu plunged 2.48 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.68 percent, Bangkok Expressway eased 0.97 percent, BTS Group gave up 1.24 percent, CP All Public dipped 0.52 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.86 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.64 percent, Gulf weakened 1.63 percent, Kasikornbank and PTT Global Chemical both slumped 0.91 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 0.99 percent, Krung Thai Card retreated 1.64 percent, PTT Oil & Retail fell 0.72 percent, PTT slid 0.75 percent, PTT Exploration and Production was down 0.87 percent, SCG Packaging tanked 2.69 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.40 percent, Siam Concrete tumbled 1.77 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 2.70 percent, True Corporation contracted 0.93 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.53 percent and B. Grimm and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mildly positive as the major averages opened in the red on Monday but quickly bounced higher and continued to trend that way throughout the session, ending near daily highs.

The Dow added 66.27 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 46,381.54, while the NASDAQ jumped 157.50 points or 0.70 percent to close at 22,788.98 and the S&P 500 gained 29.39 points or 0.44 percent to end at 6,693.75.

Profit taking contributed to the initial weakness on Wall Street, with some traders looking to cash in on the recent strength in the markets.

Selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders remain optimistic about the outlook for the markets amid expectations of further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

After cutting rates by a quarter point last Wednesday, the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter at each of its next two meetings in October and December.

Crude oil was little changed on Monday amid lingering oversupply concerns after OPEC agreed earlier this month to boost production starting in October. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $0.05 or 0.08 percent at $62.73 per barrel.