Renewed Consolidation Likely For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market moved higher again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the five-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 40 points or 3 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,365-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key inflation data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index perked 1.41 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 1,365.72 after trading between 1,356.51 and 1,370.67. Volume was 9.040 billion shares worth 43.114 billion baht. There were 281 decliners and 191 gainers, with 185 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 1.21 percent, while Asset World tanked 2.72 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.35 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical strengthened 0.90 percent, B. Grimm retreated 1.42 percent, BTS Group lost 0.46 percent, CP All Public increased 0.84 percent, Energy Absolute shed 0.69 percent, Gulf gathered 0.99 percent, Krung Thai Bank and TTB Bank both added 0.54 percent, Krung Thai Card climbed 1.17 percent, PTT plunged 3.62 percent, PTT Exploration and Production declined 1.38 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 1.78 percent, Siam Commercial Bank gained 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete improved 0.45 percent, Thai Oil dropped 0.93 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.97 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Kasikornbank, PTT Global Chemical, Banpu, PTT Oil & Retail, Thailand Airport and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and mostly remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 159.08 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 41,091.42, while the NASDAQ sank 198.79 points or 1.12 percent to end at 17,556.03 and the S&P 500 lost 33.62 points or 0.60 percent to close at 5,592.18.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected anxiety ahead of the release of market leader Nvidia's (NVDA) fiscal second quarter results after the close of trading.

After the markets closed, Nvidia showed a profit for its second quarter that increased from last year and beat estimates.

Stocks were also under pressure as traders looked ahead to Friday's Commerce Department report on personal income and spending in July, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. While the data is not likely to affect optimism the Fed will lower rates next month, it could impact expectations for how quickly the central bank cuts rates.

Crude oil futures dropped Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for global oil demand, and on data showing a much smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October sank $1.01 or 1.34 percent at $74.52 a barrel.