Thai Bourse May End Losing Streak On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, sinking more than 45 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,300-point plateau although it figures to stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing concerns of a trade war. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the food, consumer, industrial, property, resource and technology companies were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index dipped 3.37 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 1,301.02 after trading between 1,300.11 and 1,316.41. Volume was 8.077 billion shares worth 41.739 billion baht. There were 292 decliners and 188 gainers, with 189 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Thailand Airport jumped 1.82 percent, while Asset World slumped 1.27 percent, Banpu fell 0.41 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.33 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical weakened 1.28 percent, B. Grimm plummeted 4.03 percent, BTS Group surged 2.48 percent, CP All Public declined 1.43 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.42 percent, Energy Absolute cratered 3.38 percent, Gulf spiked 2.18 percent, Kasikornbank rallied 2.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank jumped 1.75 percent, Krung Thai Card advanced 0.98 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.88 percent, PTT sank 0.81 percent, PTT Exploration and Production stumbled 1.98 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.90 percent, SCG Packaging plunged 3.13 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.79 percent, Siam Concrete surrendered 2.32 percent, Thai Oil tumbled 2.91 percent, True Corporation improved 0.86 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.51 percent and Advanced Info and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but trended upward throughout the session to finish solidly in the green and at session highs.

The Dow climbed 134.13 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 44,556.04, while the NASDAQ rallied 262.06 points or 1.35 percent to close at 19,654.02 and the S&P 500 gained 43.31 points or 0.72 percent to end at 6,037.88.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected easing concerns about a global trade war after President Donald Trump agreed to pause 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for a month.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing job openings in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in December.

The data led to some optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of the Labor Department's more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday as Trump agreed to postpone levies on Canada and Mexico's exports to the United States. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $72.70 a barrel, down $0.46 or about $0.63 percent.