Thai Stock Market May Reclaim 1,400-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 20 points or 1.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,395-point plateau and it's expected to tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, supported by bargain hunting and crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were modestly higher and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index advanced 13.03 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 1,396.96 after trading between 1,385.92 and 1,400.63. Volume was 30.245 billion shares worth 50.745 billion baht. There were 343 gainers and 143 decliners, with 165 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.46 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 1.18 percent, Asset World gained 0.49 percent, Banpu increased 0.80 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.36 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical accelerated 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway soared 4.83 percent, B. Grimm soared 2.65 percent, CP All Public jumped 1.83 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.53 percent, Gulf increased 0.57 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.41 percent, PTT Oil & Retail climbed 1.11 percent, PTT perked 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gathered 0.66 percent, Siam Commercial Bank advanced 0.95 percent, Siam Concrete improved 0.74 percent, Thai Oil strengthened 0.91 percent, True Corporation surged 4.07 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.07 percent and Krung Thai Bank, Krung Thai Card, SCG Packaging, Energy Absolute, PTT Global Chemical and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher but also spent much of the day in the red before a late rally nudged them all back into positive territory.

The Dow climbed 141.24 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 38,521.36, while the NASDAQ rose 11.32 points or 0.07 percent to close at 15,609.00 and the S&P 500 added 11.42 points or 0.23 percent to end at 4,954.23.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets after recent volatility.

While the major averages climbed well off Monday's early lows, fading optimism the Fed will lower interest rates in March continued to hang over the markets.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said the central bank is unlikely to cut rates in March and the chances of a rate cut next month have fallen to just 19.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session after the Energy Information Administration's said oil inventories may drop by 0.8 million barrels per day in the current quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.53 or 0.73 percent at $73.31 a barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Thailand is scheduled to wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and then announce its decision on interest rates; the central bank is widely expected to leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 2.50 percent.