Thai Stock Market May Tick Higher Again On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one session after ending 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 above the 1,275-point plateau and it may add to its gains from the previous session.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to at least open in similar fashion, although profit taking may be in order later in the day.

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

For the day, the index rallied 18.36 points or 1.46 percent to finish at 1,277.43 after trading between 1,263.93 and 1,280.16. Volume was 10.714 billion shares worth 70.067 billion baht. There were 270 gainers and 231 decliners, with 160 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info expanded 1.35 percent, while Thailand Airport gathered 0.63 percent, Asset World dropped 0.88 percent, Banpu stumbled 2.00 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical soared 3.62 percent, Bangkok Expressway declined 0.91 percent, B. Grimm tanked 2.52 percent, BTS Group retreated 1.14 percent, CP All Public lost 0.54 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods and PTT Exploration and Production both sank 0.84 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 4.76 percent, Gulf advanced 1.05 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.60 percent, Krung Thai Bank strengthened 1.24 percent, Krung Thai Card improved 0.85 percent, PTT Oil & Retail increased 0.78 percent, PTT jumped 1.56 percent, PTT Global Chemical shed 0.41 percent, SCG Packaging slumped 1.10 percent, Siam Commercial Bank climbed 1.15 percent, Siam Concrete gained 0.49 percent, Thai Oil rose 0.74 percent, TTB Bank added 0.52 percent and Bangkok Bank and True Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and largely spent the day in positive territory.

The Dow surged 463.66 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 44,922.27, while the NASDAQ added 31.24 points or 0.14 percent to close at a record 21,713.14 and the S&P 500 rose 20.82 points or 0.32 percent to end at 6,466.58, also a record.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve following Tuesday's consumer price inflation data.

With the consumer price inflation data largely coming in line with economist estimates, the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by a least a quarter point next month.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.8 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in September.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency projected oversupply in the market this year due to surging supply from oil producers. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.55 or 0.87 percent at $62.62 per barrel.