Thai Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, adding almost 25 points or 1.7 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,405-point plateau although the rally may stall on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing concerns over the war in the Middle East and surging oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the consumer, finance, property and service sectors were capped by weakness from the food, industrial and resource companies.

For the day, the index perked 1.58 points or 0.11 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,407.34 after trading as high as 1,428.06. Volume was 10.313 billion shares worth 66.700 billion baht. There were 221 decliners and 217 gainers, with 208 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info retreated 1.37 percent, while Thailand Airport soared 2.51 percent, Banpu plunged 3.39 percent, Bangkok Bank rose 0.30 percent, Bangkok Expressway weakened 1.85 percent, B. Grimm cratered 2.52 percent, CP All Public contracted 1.06 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods stumbled 2.08 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.47 percent, Gulf crashed 2.68 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.80 percent, Krung Thai Card dropped 0.86 percent, PTT Oil & Retail shed 0.89 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rallied 2.50 percent, PTT Global Chemical slumped 0.93 percent, SCG Packaging skidded 1.13 percent, Siam Concrete spiked 2.64 percent, Thai Oil tumbled 1.56 percent, True Corporation sank 0.76 percent and TTB Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, Asset World, PTT, Bangkok Dusit Medical and BTS Group were unchanged.