Bargain Hunting May Boost Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai Stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 30 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,490-point plateau although it's expected to open higher on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of upside as ambiguity continues to reign in the Middle East. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, finance, property, resource, service and technology sectors. For the day, the index sank 11.07 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 1,489.29 after trading between 1,483.95 and 1,509.86. Volume was 9.214 billion shares worth 61.489 billion baht. There were 322 decliners and 166 gainers, with 171 stocks finishing unchanged. Among the actives, Thailand Airport declined 0.98 percent, while Asset World tumbled 1.87 percent, Banpu lost 0.86 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.31 percent, Bangkok Expressway stumbled 1.85 percent, B. Grimm contracted 0.72 percent, CP All Public gained 0.57 percent, Energy Absolute slid 0.75 percent, Gulf tanked 2.08 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.03 percent, Krung Thai Bank sank 0.76 percent, Krung Thai Card slumped 0.84 percent, PTT Oil & Retail advanced 0.81 percent, PTT Exploration and Production advanced 1.01 percent, PTT Global Chemical added 0.65 percent, SCG Packaging shed 0.80 percent, Siam Commercial Bank fell 0.38 percent, Siam Concrete slipped 0.43 percent, Thai Oil skidded 1.06 percent, True Corporation retreated 1.39 percent, TTB Bank dropped 0.88 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Advanced Info, PTT, Bangkok Dusit Medical and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and largely hugged the line throughout the session, finishing with slight gains.

The Dow climbed 95.31 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 49,704.47, while the NASDAQ added 27.05 points or 0.10 percent to close at a record 26,274.13 and the S&P 500 rose 13.19 points or 0.19 percent to end at 7,412.84, also a record.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength.

Crude oil futures surged after President Donald Trump rejected Iran's response to a U.S. proposal to end the months-long war, calling it "totally unacceptable" in a post on Truth Social. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $3.33 or 3.49 percent at $98.75 per barrel.

Trump later told reporters the U.S.-Iran ceasefire is on "life support" amid the ongoing dispute, describing the state of the truce "unbelievably weak."

However, U.S. markets have recently been able to shrug off concerns about the impact of the Middle East conflict amid upbeat earnings news.