Win Streak May Continue For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost a dozen points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,490-point plateau and it's likely to extend its gains again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with technology shares likely to lead the markets higher. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the consumer, property and technology sectors, while the service stocks were soft.

For the day, the index added 10.16 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 1,490.40 after trading between 1,468.00 and 1,492.62. Volume was 10.972 billion shares worth 80.178 billion baht. There were 296 gainers and 172 decliners, with 201 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info advanced 1.15 percent, while Thailand Airport tanked 2.34 percent, Asset World spiked 2.42 percent, Banpu sank 0.84 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical shed 0.47 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 0.86 percent, B. Grimm climbed 1.31 percent, BTS Group increased 0.83 percent, CP All Public skidded 0.98 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.42 percent, Gulf soared 4.15 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.75 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slumped 1.44 percent, PTT gained 0.68 percent, PTT Exploration and Production jumped 1.87 percent, PTT Global Chemical dropped 0.93 percent, SCG Packaging rose 0.48 percent, Siam Commercial Bank added 0.68 percent, Siam Concrete gathered 0.45 percent, Thai Oil rallied 2.79 percent, True Corporation surged 4.29 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Card and Energy Absolute were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the markets opened flat on Tuesday but quickly trended upward and spent the balance of the day in positive territory, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 370.44 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 49,174.50, while the NASDAQ rallied 236.41 points or 1.04 percent to end at 22,863.68 and the S&P 500 gained 52.32 points or 0.77 percent to close at 6,890.07.

The strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting, as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the steep drop on Monday when the Dow fell to a one-month low.

Semiconductor stocks lead the move back to the upside, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.5 percent to a new record closing high. Significant strength was also visible among networking, gold, airline and software stocks.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in February as its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 from an upwardly revised 89.0 in January.

Crude oil prices fell slumped Tuesday as traders continue to evaluate the potential turbulence in the trade tariff environment following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on reciprocal tariffs. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery sank $0.71 or 1.1 percent to $66.31 a barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Thailand will wrap up its monetary policy meeting today and then announce its decision on interest rates; the bank is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.25 percent.