Thai Shares May Bounce Higher Again On Wednesday

The Thai stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had improved more than 25 points or 2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,275-point plateau although it’s expected to rebound on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be positive, despite several of the regional bourses already at record closing highs. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to at least open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the food, service and technology sectors were offset by support from the consumer and resource companies.

For the day, the index shed 5.30 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 1,274.75 after trading between 1,270.50 and 1,282.43. There were 245 decliners and 198 gainers, with 209 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport plummeted 5.50 percent, while Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.52 percent, Bangkok Expressway sank 0.94 percent, B. Grimm spiked 2.84 percent, BTS Group slumped 1.72 percent, CP All Public added 0.58 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tumbled 1.83 percent, Gulf vaulted 2.41 percent, PTT Oil & Retail plunged 2.96 percent, PTT Global Chemical shed 0.47 percent, SCG Packaging rallied 2.38 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skidded 1.06 percent, Thai Oil surged 5.37 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.88 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.97 percent and Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, Krung Thai Card, Siam Concrete, Asset World, Advanced Info, Banpu, Energy Absolute, PTT and PTT Exploration and Production were all unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened in the green on Tuesday and trended higher through the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 484.90 points or 0.99 percent to finish at a record high 49,462.08, while the NASDAQ climbed 151.35 points or 0.65 percent to end at 23,547.17 and the S&P 500 gained 42.77 points or 0.62 percent to close at 6,944.82, also a record.

The Dow benefitted from a sharp increase by shares of Amazon (AMZN) after it announced it is rolling out Alexa.com to Alexa+ Early Access customers in what is seen as an effort to more directly compete with ChatGPT and Gemini.

The continued advance by the broader markets came despite a lack of major catalysts, as traders look ahead to the release of several key U.S. economic reports in the coming days.

The highlight of the week may be the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report on Friday. That data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy meeting later this month.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Tuesday as investors booked profits while analyzing the consequences of Saturday’s swift U.S. military operation in Venezuela on global oil supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $1.11 or 1.90 percent at $57.21 per barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see December inflation figures sometime this week. Overall inflation is expected to slip 0.40 percent on year after falling 0.4 percent in November, while core CPI is tipped to rise an annual 0.69 percent – up from 0.66 percent in the previous month.