Thai Stock Market May Find Traction On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, dipping almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,450-point plateau although it's due for support on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky thanks to a less clear outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Monday as losses from the consumer, industrial, service and technology sectors were mitigated by support among the resource, property and finance companies.

For the day, the index eased 1.32 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 1,448.83 after trading between 1,444.11 and 1,453.54. Volume was 9.637 billion shares worth 52.891 billion baht. There were 248 decliners and 230 gainers, with 184 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World gained 0.53 percent, while Banpu jumped 1.44 percent, Bangkok Bank and Kasikornbank both collected 0.33 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical shed 0.83 percent, Bangkok Expressway was up 1.24 percent, B. Grimm climbed 1.27 percent, CP All Public slumped 1.13 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.42 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 3.24 percent, Gulf improved 0.88 percent, Krung Thai Card soared 2.63 percent, PTT Oil & Retail strengthened 1.15 percent, PTT increased 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.76 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.44 percent, SCG Packaging tumbled 1.69 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dropped 0.91 percent, Siam Concrete sank 0.82 percent, Thai Oil accelerated 0.99 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.90 percent, TTB Bank rallied 1.55 percent and Krung Thai Bank, Advanced Info, Thailand Airport and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened flat on Monday and hugged the line throughout most of the session before a late rally nudged them into the green at the close.

The Dow added 17.15 points or 0.04 percent to finish at a record 42,330.15, while the NASDAQ gained 69.58 points or 0.38 percent to close at 18,189.17 and the S&P 500 rose 24.31 points or 0.42 percent to end at a record 5,762.48.

Stocks initially came under pressure in reaction to remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who suggested the central bank will continue to lower interest rates but stressed the downward path for rates is not on a preset course.

Powell's remarks partly offset optimism the Fed will continue to lower interest rates aggressively in the coming months.

The Fed's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for November 6-7, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 65.3 percent chance the central bank will lower rates by 25 basis points and a 34.7 percent chance of another 50-basis point rate cut.

Oil futures settled flat on Monday as uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand from China weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.01 at $68.17 a barrel.