Renewed Support Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - the Thai stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 10 points or 0.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,375-point plateau although it's expected to return to the upside on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on an improving outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the food, industrial, property, energy and service sectors, while support from the financials capped the downside.

For the day, the index sank 7.07 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 1,373.92 after trading between 1,370.04 and 1,383.41. Volume was 10.040 billion shares worth 35.320 billion baht. There were 401 decliners and 107 gainers, with 143 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport sank 0.83 percent, while Asset World plunged 4.84 percent, Banpu surrendered 2.22 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.67 percent, Bangkok Expressway skidded 1.23 percent, B. Grimm tumbled 2.80 percent, BTS Group slumped 2.05 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.13 percent, Energy Absolute stumbled 3.39 percent, Gulf declined 1.65 percent, Kasikornbank improved 0.79 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.55 percent, Krung Thai Card retreated 1.62 percent, PTT Exploration and Production jumped 1.76 percent, PTT Global Chemical increased 0.65 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 4.58 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.25 percent, Siam Concrete shed 0.68 percent, Thai Oil rallied 147 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.97 percent, TTB Bank gained 0.64 percent and PTT Oil & Retail, PTT, Advanced Info, CP All Public and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages shook off a soft open, quickly moving into the green and finishing well in positive territory.

The Dow advanced 173.01 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 36,577.94, while the NASDAQ jumped 100.91 points or 0.70 percent to close at 14,533.40 and the S&P 500 gained 21.26 points or 0.46 percent to end at 4,643.70.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Labor Department report showing U.S. consumer prices inched up in line with economist estimates in November.

The data has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking to the accompanying statement and projections for signs the central bank could begin cutting rates next year.

Crude oil prices fell to a six-month low Tuesday amid lingering concerns about the outlook for fuel demand and worries about possible oversupply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $2.71 or 3.8 percent at $68.61 a barrel.