Little Movement Seen For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, collecting almost 25 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,650-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to solid earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the food, industrial, resource and technology sectors were capped by weakness from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index perked 4.01 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 1,650.01 after trading between 1,542.28 and 1,657.55. Volume was 6.995 billion shares worth 51.227 billion baht. There were 245 gainers and 174 decliners, with 218 stocks finishing unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 385.38 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 52,224.64, while the NASDAQ advanced 329.13 points or 1.29 percent to end at 25,837.21 and the S&P 500 gained 65.92 points or 0.89 percent to close at 7,509.20.

A positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news inspired traders to pick up stocks such as 3M (MMM), General Motors (GM) and Novartis (NVS) at reduced levels.

Strength among technology stocks also contributed to the rally, as reflected by the jump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index soaring 5.9 percent and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping 5.2 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked on Tuesday as the U.S. attacked Iran for the 10th straight day, reinforcing supply concerns due to the Strait of Hormuz crisis. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $1.77 or 2.13 percent at $85.00 per barrel.