Thai Stock Market May Add To Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than a dozen points or 0.7 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,630-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials were offset by weakness from the energy producers.

For the day, the index rose 6.00 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 1,629.38 after trading between 1,623.33 and 1,632.42. Volume was 20.623 billion shares worth 61.703 billion baht. There were 868 gainers and 826 decliners, with 545 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.53 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.66 percent, Asset World gained 0.83 percent, Banpu retreated 1.57 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical soared 2.46 percent, Bangkok Expressway increased 0.53 percent, B. Grimm strengthened 1.36 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.40 percent, Energy Absolute improved 0.77 percent, Gulf advanced 0.97 percent, PTT declined 1.47 percent, PTT Exploration and Production tumbled 2.12 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.52 percent, SCG Packaging fell 0.44 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.95 percent, Thai Oil slumped 2.25 percent, True Corporation skidded 0.81 percent, TTB Bank was up 0.74 percent and Bangkok Bank, BTS Group, CP All Public, IRPC, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, Krung Thai Card, PTT Oil & Retail and Siam Concrete were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday, faded midday and then bounced higher again to end in the green.

The Dow added 56.22 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 33,592.92, while the NASDAQ jumped 162.19 point or 1.45 percent to end at 11,358.41 and the S&P 500 gained 34.48 points or 0.87 percent to close at 3,991.73.

The early rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. crept up much less than expected in October.

Following last week's tamer-than-expected consumer price inflation report, the data added to optimism about the Federal Reserve slowing the pace of interest rate hikes as soon as next month.

However, stocks pulled back well off their best levels of the day following reports Russian missiles crossed into Poland, killing two people.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, thanks to the smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. producer prices in October. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.94 at 86.81 a barrel.