Thai Stock Market May Stop The Bleeding On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 10 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,385-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from technology and oil stocks. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished barely lower on Monday as losses from the consumer, industrial and resource sectors were mitigated by support from the finance and technology companies.

For the day, the index dipped 0.10 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 1,385.94 after trading between 1,385.01 and 1,393.46. Volume was 12.937 billion shares worth 37.393 billion baht. There were 288 decliners and 198 gainers, with 170 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info strengthened 1.46 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.75 percent, Banpu retreated 1.72 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.72 percent, Bangkok Expressway plunged 2.38 percent, B. Grimm advanced 0.89 percent, BTS Group jumped 1.89 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rallied 2.17 percent, Energy Absolute shed 0.70 percent, Gulf skidded 1.10 percent, Kasikornbank sank 0.80 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.62 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 1.10 percent, PTT slumped 1.44 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.88 percent, SCG Packaging improved 0.85 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 0.44 percent, Siam Concrete shed 0.74 percent, True Corporation climbed 1.27 percent, TTB Bank spiked 2.21 percent and Krung Thai Card, Asset World, Thai Oil, CP All Public and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

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

The Dow advanced 75.66 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 38,790.43, while the NASDAQ jumped 130.27 points or 0.82 percent to close at 16,103.45 and the S&P 500 gained 32.33 points or 0.63 percent to end at 5,149.42.

Technology stocks led the rally on Wall Street, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ showing a strong move to the upside on gains from the likes of Alphabet (GOOGL) and Nvidia (NVDA).

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged after recent inflation readings have reduced optimism about a rate cut in June.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported an unexpected improvement in U.S. homebuilder confidence in March.

Oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about supply due to geopolitical risks following continued drone attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil refineries, as well as data showing a drop in crude exports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April jumped $1.68 or 2.1 percent at $82.72 a barrel.