Thai Shares May Extend Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,315-point plateau and it's likely to inch higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is generally upbeat following the FOMC's rate decision. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished barely higher on Wednesday as gains from the food, resource and technology stocks were offset by weakness from the finance, industrial and service companies,

For the day, the index perked 0.59 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 1,316.69 after trading between 1,311.04 and 1,320.51. Volume was 13.524 billion shares worth 46.555 billion baht. There were 315 decliners and 171 gainers, with 171 stocks also finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.47 percent, while Thailand Airport weakened 1.24 percent, Asset World skidded 1.13 percent, Banpu surged 3.48 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.37 percent, Bangkok Expressway soared 2.53 percent, B. Grimm tanked 2.11 percent, BTS Group surrendered 2.49 percent, CP All Public fell 0.44 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 4.74 percent, Gulf sank 0.62 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.40 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.57 percent, Krung Thai Card plunged 3.37 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slumped 1.19 percent, PTT Exploration and Production spiked 2.67 percent, PTT Global Chemical stumbled 1.54 percent, SCG Packaging improved 0.75 percent, Siam Commercial Bank advanced 0.97 percent, Siam Concrete declined 1.29 percent, Thai Oil strengthened 1.51 percent, True Corporation rallied 2.42 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.20 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, PTT and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, although the Dow couldn't hold its gains and slipped into the red.

The Dow shed 35.21 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 38,712.21, while the NASDAQ rallied 264.89 points or 1.53 percent to close at 17,608.44 and the S&P 500 gained 45.71 points or 0.85 percent to end at 5,421.03.

The early rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing U.S. consumer prices were unexpectedly flat in May, which led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

But later in the day, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement revealed that officials now expect only one interest rate cut this year.

The Fed acknowledged modest further progress toward its inflation objective in recent months but said officials still need greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards the target before they will consider lowering rates.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday on hopes of increased demand and tighter supply conditions later in the year, as well as a weak dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July rose $0.60 at $78.50 a barrel.