Higher Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 15 points or 1.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,275-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside as investors figure to wait and see is the U.S. government can avert a shutdown. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index slumped 13.90 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 1,274.17 after trading between 1,270.42 and 1,290.54. Volume was 9/580 billion shares worth 49.548 billion baht. There were 382 decliners and 109 gainers, with 167 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.68 percent, while Thailand Airport jumped 1.89 percent, Asset World plunged 5.88 percent, Banpu dropped 0.87 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 0.96 percent, BTS Group surrendered 3.16 percent, CP All Public slumped 1.56 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.33 percent, Energy Absolute cratered 4.02 percent, Gulf skidded 1.14 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.30 percent, Krung Thai Bank tumbled 1.78 percent, Krung Thai Card sank 0.83 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tanked 2.07 percent, PTT weakened 1.48 percent, PTT Exploration and Production crashed 2.94 percent, PTT Global Chemical plummeted 4.23 percent, SCG Packaging stumbled 2.04 percent, Thai Oil contracted 2.76 percent, True Corporation declined 1.89 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.52 percent and Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, Siam Concrete, B. Grimm and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages spent all of Tuesday under water until the very end, when they crept up into positive territory.

The Dow climbed 81.82 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 46,397.89, while the NASDAQ added 68.86 points or 0.30 percent to end at 22,660.01 and the S&P 500 gained 27.25 points or 0.41 percent to close at 6,688.46.

The choppy trading for much of the day came as traders kept an eye on Washington, where lawmakers are struggling to reach an agreement to avert a government shutdown.

The late-day strength on Wall Street reflected hopes lawmakers will reach a last-minute agreement, as they often do, or optimism that a government shutdown will not have a major impact on the economy.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Conference Board report showing a bigger than expected decrease by its reading on U.S. consumer confidence in the month of September.

Crude oil declined sharply on Tuesday, extending recent losses as excess supply concerns continue to linger due to the anticipated production increase by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $1.08 or 1.70 percent at $62.37 per barrel.