Thai Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has ticked higher in two straight sessions, rising just 3 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,370-point plateau although it may fade on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key inflation data later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the food and industrial sectors were capped by weakness among the technology, finance and resource stocks.

For the day, the index perked 0.60 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 1,372.50 after trading between 1,366.06 and 1,375.14. Volume was 16.207 billion shares worth 45.536 billion baht. There were 264 decliners and 232 gainers, with 163 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info fell 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport was up 0.38 percent, Banpu tumbled 1.83 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.36 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical improved 0.86 percent, BTS Group slumped 0.82 percent, CP All Public surged 2.54 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.49 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 11.86 percent, Gulf declined 1.20 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.37 percent, Krung Thai Bank climbed 1.19 percent, Krung Thai Card gained 0.57 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rose 0.55 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gathered 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical strengthened 1.40 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.81 percent, Siam Commercial Bank retreated 1.39 percent, Thai Oil stumbled 1.40 percent, True Corporation slumped 0.58 percent, TTB Bank lost 0.57 percent and Siam Concrete, Asset World, B. Grimm, PTT and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 81.33 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 39,431,51, while the NASDAQ gained 47.37 points or 0.29 percent to end at 16,388.24 and the S&P 500 eased 1.26 points or 0.02 percent to close at 5,221.42.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from renewed optimism about an interest rate cut by Federal Reserve in the coming months.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as key inflation data due this week could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

Oil prices advanced on Monday amid expectations about the outlook for demand after OPEC decided to extend supply cuts into the second half of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.86 at $79.12 a barrel.