Mild Rebound Predicted For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the three-day slide in which it had fallen almost 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,630-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher, with upside limited by concern over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished slightly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index eased 2.02 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 1,631.55 after trading between 1,624.60 and 1,638.75. Volume was 23.637 billion shares worth 82.621 billion baht. There were 1,010 decliners and 656 gainers, with 561 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.26 percent, while Asset World dropped 0.89 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical and SCG Packaging both sank 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway skidded 1.13 percent, BTS Group retreated 1.19 percent, Energy Absolute rose 0.31 percent, Gulf shed 0.51 percent, IRPC slumped 1.14 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.65 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.43 percent, PTT perked 0.67 percent, PTT Exploration and Production surged 4.35 percent, Siam Concrete lost 0.55 percent, Thai Oil climbed 1.26 percent, True Corporation tumbled 2.11 percent, TTB Bank soared 2.46 percent and Thailand Airport, Banpu, Bangkok Bank, B. Grimm, CP All Public, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Krung Thai Bank, PTT Oil & Retail, PTT Global Chemical and Siam Commercial Bank all were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages shook off early weakness and moved quickly to the upside, although they finished well off of the day's highs.

The Dow added 59.64 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,969.23, while the NASDAQ gained 50.23 points or 0.41 percent to end at 12,431.53 and the S&P 500 rose 12.04 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,140.77.

The early weakness followed comments from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who reiterated the U.S. central bank's commitment to bringing inflation under control through tighter monetary policy.

Investors also looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's annual Jackson Hole economic symposium later this week for clues about the bank's outlook for the economy and interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods were virtually unchanged in July. Also, the rate of decline for pending home sales slowed from the previous month.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, supported by data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, as well as news that OPEC may cut production to support prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $1.15 or 1.2 percent at $94.89 a barrel.