Higher Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had slipped more than a dozen points or 0.8 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,375-point plateau and it's got a solid lead again for Tuesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing treasury yields and ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later this week. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the food, finance, industrial and resource sectors, while the technology stocks weighed.

For the day, the index gained 8.13 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 1,376.28 after trading between 1,366.84 and 1,379.60. Volume was 18.868 billion shares worth 39.325 billion baht. There were

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 0.93 percent, while Thailand Airport soared 2.10 percent, Asset World skyrocketed 5.21 percent, Banpu dropped 0.76 percent, Bangkok Bank spiked 2.50 percent, Bangkok Expressway declined 0.67 percent, BTS Group slumped 0.75 percent, CP All Public advanced 0.96 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.55 percent, Energy Absolute strengthened 1.29 percent, Krung Thai Bank rallied 1.24 percent, Krung Thai Card soared 2.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail added 0.55 percent, PTT jumped 1.47 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.34 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 0.72 percent, SCG Packaging improved 0.79 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete increased 0.72 percent, Thai Oil accelerated 2.35 percent, TTB Bank slid 0.56 percent and Kasikornbank, True Corporation, B. Grimm, Gulf and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened flat on Monday and stayed that way for much of the session before a late surge sent them solidly into the green.

The Dow rallied 224.02 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 38,333.45, while the NASDAQ jumped 172.68 points or 1.12 percent to close at 15,628.04 and the S&P 500 gained 36.96 points or 0.76 percent to end at 4,927.93.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street reflected a notable pullback by treasury yields, which gave ground after moving higher last Friday. Yields fell to new lows and stocks rallied late in the session as the Treasury Department reduced its estimates for first quarter borrowing.

Earlier in the day, traders seemed reluctant to make significant ahead of several key events this week, including the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the likelihood of rate cuts at upcoming meetings. Recent economic data has led many economists to believe the Fed is unlikely to cut rates in March, as traders had previously hoped.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday as concerns about the outlook for demand outweighed the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, while a firmer dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March slipped $1.23 or 1.6 percent to settle at $76.88 a barrel.