Mild Upside Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering just 3 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,530-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting expected ahead of key inflation data later in the week. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were solidly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly higher again on Monday following gains from the financial, energy and technology sectors.

For the day, the index perked 2.05 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 1,532.51 after trading between 1,519.37 and 1,540.22. Volume was 11.648 billion shares worth 46.468 billion baht. There were 242 decliners and 189 gainers, with 205 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World increased 0.47 percent, while Bangkok Bank spiked 2.68 percent, Bangkok Expressway lost 0.56 percent, B. Grimm rallied 1.34 percent, BTS Group plunged 2.56 percent, CP All Public declined 1.23 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.51 percent, Energy Absolute dropped 0.85 percent, Gulf strengthened 1.55 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.82 percent, Krung Thai Bank climbed 1.00 percent, Krung Thai Card jumped 1.64 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rose 0.48 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 0.62 percent, PTT Global Chemical gained 0.64 percent, Siam Commercial Bank advanced 0.90 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.31 percent, Thai Oil was up 0.48 percent, True Corporation gathered 0.73 percent, TTB Bank improved 1.18 percent and SCG Packaging, Advanced Info, Banpu, PTT, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and largely stayed that way, finishing firmly in the green.

The Dow jumped 407.51 points or 1.16 percent to finish at 35,473.13, while the NASDAQ climbed 85.16 points or 0.61 percent to close at 13,994.40 and the S&P 500 gained 40.41 points or 0.90 percent to end at 4,518.44.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came as investors indulged in some bargain hunting after last week's losses.

The upside was measured, however, ahead of crucial reports on consumer and producer price inflation later in the week, which could affect the Federal Reserve's plan for interest rates.

Most economists expect another pause in interest rate hikes by the Fed next month, although the data has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for rates beyond that.

Oil futures settled lower on Monday, coming off the four-month highs they touched last week. The dollar's strength ahead of inflation data weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September shed $0.88 or 1.1 percent at $81.94 a barrel.