Higher Open Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, improving more than 50 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,400-point plateau and it's expected to see additional support on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic amidst an extended rebound among technology companies and ahead of key U.S. data later this week. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the food, consumer, finance, property, resource, service and technology sectors. For the day, the index surged 46.88 points or 3.46 percent to finish at 1,400.89 after trading between 1,384.61 and 1,407.74. Volume was 13.897 billion shares worth 102.112 billion baht. There were 407 gainers and 109 decliners, with 155 stocks finishing unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Monday but eventually moved up into the green to finish with modest gains.

The Dow rose 18.98 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 50,134.65, while the NASDAQ jumped 217.80 points or 0.95 percent to close at 23,249.02 and the S&P 500 added 34.13 points or 0.49 percent to end at 6,966.43.

The strength that has emerged on Wall Street reflected an extended rebound by tech stocks, which helped the strong upward move seen last Friday.

Software giant Oracle (ORCL) has helped lead the sector higher, spiking by 9.3 percent after D.A. Davidson upgraded its rating on the company's stock to Buy from Neutral.

The choppy trading came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of several key U.S. economic reports in the coming days. The Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which was delayed due to the brief government shutdown last week, is likely to be in the spotlight.

Gold prices moved sharply higher on Monday, extending last week's gains. Gold for February delivery surged $99.70 or 2 percent to $5,050.90 an ounce. The continued advance by the price of gold came amid weakness in the value of the U.S. dollar, with the U.S. dollar index sliding 0.7 percent.