Thai Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

The Thai stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, collecting almost 50 points or 3.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,280-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to ongoing geopolitical concerns. The European markets were down and the U.S. markets were closed and the Asian bourses are also likely to open under water.

The SET finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the industrial, resource, services and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rose 7.60 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 1,283.20 after trading between 1,271.80 and 1,288.23. Volume was 6.683 billion shares worth 36.145 billion baht. There were 322 gainers and 126 decliners, with 211 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slumped 0.58 percent, while Thailand Airport skidded 0.96 percent, Asset World climbed 1.00 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.29 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical soared 3.17 percent, Bangkok Expressway retreated 0.95 percent, B. Grimm increased 0.72 percent, BTS Group jumped 1.83 percent, CP All Public spiked 2.35 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods shed 0.46 percent, Gulf added 0.55 percent, Kasikornbank tumbled 1.29 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.87 percent, Krung Thai Card advanced 0.92 percent, PTT gained 0.76 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.43 percent, PTT Global Chemical vaulted 1.27 percent, SCG Packaging and Siam Concrete both improved 0.97 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 0.36 percent, True Corporation rallied 2.50 percent, TTB Bank dropped 0.97 percent and Banpu, Energy Absolute, PTT Oil & Retail and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The U.S. markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, while the European markets spent the entire session in the red amid rising geopolitical tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his plan to acquire Greenland.

Trump said NATO had warned Denmark for years about the “Russian threat” to Greenland and claimed Copenhagen had failed to act. “Now it is time, and it will be done!!!” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform ahead of this week’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

Also weighing on stocks was Trump’s announcement of a 10 percent tariff on several EU countries from next month, which raises the tariff on all imports to the U.S. to 25 percent.

Reports suggest that the EU is considering a retaliatory move that would place tariffs on 93 billion euros of U.S. goods or restrict U.S. firms’ access to its internal market.