Rebound Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long holiday weekend for Queen Sirikit's birthday, the Thai stock market had ended the four-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 50 points or 4.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,260-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, industrial property, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index slipped 6.08 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 1,259.07 after trading between 1,253.24 and 1,266.01. Volume was 9.139 billion shares worth 51.232 billion baht. There were 245 decliners and 215 gainers, with 188 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.34 percent, while Thailand Airport tumbled 1.85 percent, Asset World plunged 3.42 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.64 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.45 percent, Bangkok Expressway contracted 0.90 percent, B. Grimm crashed 4.03 percent, BTS Group plummeted 2.22 percent, CP All Public slumped 2.63 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.24 percent, Energy Absolute stumbled 2.00 percent, Gulf dropped 1.04 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.90 percent, Krung Thai Bank rallied 2.55 percent, Krung Thai Card spiked 1.72 percent, PTT sank 0.78 percent, PTT Exploration and Production cratered 2.86 percent, PTT Global Chemical shed 0.41 percent, SCG Packaging declined 1.63 percent, Siam Commercial Bank climbed 1.17 percent, Thai Oil climbed 1.49 percent, True Corporation surrendered 1.82 percent, TTB Bank added 0.52 percent and Siam Concrete, Banpu and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher and continued to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 483.52 points or 1.10 percent to finish at 44,458.61, while the NASDAQ rallied 296.50 points or 1.39 percent to close at a record 21,681.90 and the S&P 500 climbed 72.31 points or 1.13 percent to end at 6,445.76, also a record.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation for July, which was in line with expectations.

Despite the faster than expected annual core price growth, traders seem to believe the data increases the chances the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates next month.

Following the release of the report, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating a 94.4 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point in September.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday ahead of an upcoming meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents on Friday in Alaska. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.88 or 1.38 percent at $63.08 per barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Thailand is scheduled to wrap up its monetary policy meeting later this morning and then announce its decision on interest rates; the bank is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.75 percent.