Higher Open Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Monday ended the four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 80 points or 5.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,350-point plateau and it may see additional support on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting, especially among the technology tocks that were battered last week. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SET finished sharply higher on Monday with gains across the board, especially from the food, finance and service sectors. For the day, the index jumped 17.44 points or 1.31 percent to finish at 1,349.52 after trading between 1,339.92 and 1,350.94. Volume was 13.951 billion shares worth 43.139 billion baht. There were 413 gainers and 104 decliners, with 139 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info added 1.02 percent, while Thailand Airport collected 3.17 percent, Asset World surged 4.69 percent, Banpu improved 1.89 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 2.53 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gathered 1.80 percent, Bangkok Expressway was up 1.24 percent, B. Grimm spiked 3.66 percent, BTS Group rose 2.56 percent, CP All Public gained 1.37 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods soared 3.41 percent, Energy Absolute skyrocketed 4.96 percent, Gulf advanced 3.80 percent, Krung Thai Bank accelerated 3.75 percent, PTT Oil & Retail increased 1.12 percent, PTT perked 0.75 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slumped 1.56 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 2.58 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 2.40 percent, Siam Commercial Bank strengthened 1.46 percent, Siam Concrete climbed 1.24 percent, True Corporation tumbled 1.92 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.56 percent and Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Card and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow rallied 253.58 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 38,239.98, while the NASDAQ jumped 169.30 points or 1.11 percent to close at 15,451.31 and the S&P 500 gained 43.37 points or 0.87 percent to end at 5,010.60.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came on easing fears of a wider Middle East conflict after Iran and Israel completed 'measured' counterattacks that were calibrated to avoid any casualties.

Investors scooped up bargains ahead of the release of a slew of U.S. economic data including reports on new home sales, durable goods orders and personal income and spending.

Earnings season also starts to pick up steam this week, with Tesla (TSLA), Boeing (BA), IBM (IBM), Caterpillar (CAT), Honeywell (HON), Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) among the companies due to report their quarterly results.

Oil prices drifted lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for global oil demand, while recent data showing a sharp jump in U.S. crude inventories also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May fell $0.29 or 0.34 percent at $82.85 a barrel.