Thai Shares May See Renewed Selling Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Thai Stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day slide in which it had slumped almost 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,480-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains grim thanks to ongoing geopolitical concerns in the Middle East. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the finance and property sectors were offset by weakness from the industrials and tech shares.

For the day, the index perked 1.65 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,483.50 after trading between 1.476.57 and 1,487.28. Volume was 7.791 billion shares worth 57.803 billion baht. There were 259 gainers and 179 decliners, with 214 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info lost 0.57 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.46 percent, Banpu vaulted 1.89 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.82 percent, B. Grimm and PTT Oil & Retail both dropped 0.81 percent, BTS Group climbed 0.97 percent, CP All Public slid 0.54 percent, Energy Absolute slumped 0.75 percent, Gulf improved 0.86 percent, Kasikornbank tanked 2.39 percent, Krung Thai Bank surged 5.65 percent, PTT contracted 0.72 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.70 percent, PTT Global Chemical shed 0.71 percent, SCG Packaging retreated 1.40 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 0.74 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.44 percent, Thai Oil gained 0.56 percent, True Corporation declined 1.41 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.88 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Krung Thai Card, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and remained in the red for the remainder of the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow dropped 293.18 points of 0.59 percent to finish at 49,149.38, while the NASDAQ sank 144.43 points or 0.59 percent to end at 24,259.96 and the S&P 500 lost 45.13 points or 0.63 percent to close at 7,064.01.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as the price of crude oil has moved sharply higher over the course of the day.

Crude oil prices continued to surge on Tuesday as the ongoing shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz kept supply disruption concerns alive. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $3.99 or 4.45 percent at $93.60 per barrel.

Earlier in the session, the markets benefitted from positive corporate earnings news from the likes of UnitedHealth (UNH) and homebuilder D.R. Horton (DHI), both of which handily beat expectations.

Early buying interest was also generated in reaction to a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. surged by more than expected in the month of March.