Thai Stock Market May Test Resistance At 1,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has ticked higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 10 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,380-point plateau and it may find additional support again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SET finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the food, property and service sectors were limited by weakness from the industrial, resource and technology companies.

For the day, the index rose 3.60 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 1,380.83 after trading between 1,374.92 and 1,385.07. Volume was 17.635 billion shares worth 31.831 billion baht. There were 253 gainers and 199 decliners, with 203 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.49 percent, while Asian Marine skyrocketed 8.13 percent, Thailand Airport rallied 1.55 percent, Asset World strengthened 1.48 percent, Banpu advanced 0.90 percent, Bangkok Bank and Energy Absolute both sank 0.71 percent, Bangkok Expressway declined 0.61 percent, B. Grimm climbed 0.91 percent, BTS Group slumped 0.87 percent, Gulf retreated 1.69 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.40 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.59 percent, Krung Thai Card collected 0.54 percent, PTT Oil & Retail lost 0.56 percent, PTT perked 0.75 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.85 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.97 percent, Thai Oil slid 0.42 percent, True Corporation gained 0.63 percent and TTB Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Siam Commercial Bank, PTT Global Chemical, PTT Exploration and Production, CP All Public and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and largely stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow surged 477.75 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 39,760.08, while the NASDAQ rallied 83.82 points or 0.51 percent to close at 16,399.52 and the S&P 500 gained 44.91 points or 0.86 percent to end at 5,248.49.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders again looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels after the previous day's mediocre performance.

A decrease by treasury yields also contributed to the strength in the markets amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last week. While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as expected, officials kept their forecast for three rate cuts this year.

Crude oil prices dropped on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.27 or 0.33 percent at $81.35 a barrel.

The markets are closed on Good Friday.