Higher Open Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Monday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than a dozen points or 0.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,325-point plateau although it may open to the upside again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. 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 modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, finance, industrial and resource sectors, while the technology stocks offered mild support.

For the day, the index shed 4.61 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 1,327.43 after trading between 1,320.56 and 1,328.51. Volume was 9.395 billion shares worth 33.645 billion baht. There were 378 decliners and 116 gainers, with 158 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.90 percent, while Asset World added 0.52 percent, Banpu retreated 2.79 percent, Bangkok Bank tumbled 1.85 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical jumped 1.92 percent, B. Grimm sank 0.88 percent, BTS Group slumped 1.36 percent, CP All Public and Siam Concrete both fell 0.44 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.41 percent, Gulf climbed 1.18 percent, Kasikornbank plunged 2.73 percent, Krung Thai Card collected 0.65 percent, PTT Oil & Retail declined 1.82 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.99 percent, PTT Global Chemical crashed 3.28 percent, SCG Packaging stumbled 2.44 percent, Siam Commercial Bank plummeted 3.29 percent, Thai Oil skidded 0.94 percent, True Corporation improved 0.55 percent, TTB Bank tanked 2.21 percent and Krung Thai Bank, Energy Absolute, PTT, Thailand Airport and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and stayed that way throughout the session to hit fresh record closing highs in somewhat choppy trade.

The Dow rallied 210.82 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 40,211.72, while the NASDAQ gained 74.12 points or 0.40 percent to close at 18,472.57 and the S&P 500 rose 15.87 points or 0.28 percent to end at 5,631.22.

The support on Wall Street was due largely to comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who said that the central bank will not wait until inflation hits 2 percent to cut interest rates.

On the economic front, a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed regional manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly faster rate in July.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Monday, weighed down by weighed down by political uncertainty following an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and weak economic data from China. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended down $0.30 at $81.91 a barrel.