Rebound Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for Queen Suthida's birthday, the Thai stock market had turned lower again - one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,345-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside ahead of key data later in the week, although slumping oil prices may cap the upside. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are likely to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, finance, industrial, property and resource sectors.

For the day, the index shed 5.86 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 1,345.66 after trading between 1,342.62 and 1,359.25. Volume was 15.794 billion shares worth 74.843 billion baht. There were 317 decliners and 167 gainers, with 171 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slumped 0.98 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 1.56 percent, Asset World surrendered 2.06 percent, Banpu tumbled 1.82 percent, Bangkok Bank sank 0.73 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical retreated 0.92 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 1.26 percent, B. Grimm fell 0.40 percent, BTS Group plummeted 17.95 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods stumbled 1.72 percent, Energy Absolute surged 3.15 percent, Gulf shed 0.61 percent, Krung Thai Bank climbed 1.18 percent, Krung Thai Card collected 0.55 percent, PTT Oil & Retail jumped 1.69 percent, PTT lost 0.76 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 0.65 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.11 percent, SCG Packaging plunged 2.92 percent, Siam Concrete dropped 0.84 percent, Thai Oil declined 0.96 percent, True Corporation weakened 1.15 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.17 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Monday but quickly turned lower and spent most of the day in the red before a late push saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow slumped 115.29 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 38,571.03, while the NASDAQ added 93.65 points or 0.56 percent to close at 16,828.67 and the S&P 500 rose 5.89 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,283.40.

Investors locked in recent gains in the first half of the day, consolidating positions ahead of key data later in the week. Late bargain hunting boosted the averages going into the close.

In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said that manufacturing activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in May. Also, the U.S. Census Bureau said U.S. construction spending unexpectedly shrunk in April.

Oil prices fell to a four-month low on Monday after OPEC said it will begin phasing out voluntary production cuts over the next year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended down by $2.77 or about 3.6 percent at $74.22 a barrel. =