Thai Stock Market May Extend Winning Streak

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 20 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,190-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Thursday.

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 moved higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index climbed 13.49 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 1,189.66 after trading between 1,174.62 and 1,195.56. Volume was 9.843 billion shares worth 42.751 billion baht. There were 361 gainers and 149 decliners, with 156 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 1.14 percent, while Thailand Airport expanded 3.80 percent, Banpu gained 0.92 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.02 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slumped 1.26 percent, Bangkok Expressway was up 2.78 percent, B. Grimm soared 3.54 percent, BTS Group perked 2.75 percent, CP All Public rose 1.55 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods improved 0.83 percent, Energy Absolute accelerated 3.36 percent, Gulf spiked 3,03 percent, Kasikornbank advanced 0.96 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 0.85 percent, Krung Thai Card increased 1.07 percent, PTT Oil & Retail jumped 3.85 percent, PTT gathered 0.85 percent, PTT Exploration and Production sank 0.91 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 4.42 percent, SCG Packaging strengthened 1.28 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.81 percent, Siam Concrete picked up 1.21 percent, True Corporation added 0.93 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.52 percent and Thai Oil was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened modestly higher on Wednesday but accelerated into the close, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 383.32 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 41,964.63, while the NASDAQ surged 246.67 points or 1.41 percent to close at 17,750.79 and the S&P 500 rallied 60.63 points or 1.08 percent to end at 5,675.29.

Stocks rallied early in the session and saw further upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The Fed announced its widely expected decision to again leave interest rates unchanged but signaled that it is still likely to lower rates later this year.

Meanwhile, Fed officials lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil futures closed higher on Wednesday amid continued uncertainty about growth due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on some of its major trading partners. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.26 or 0.39 percent at $67.16 a barrel.