Soft Start Expected For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 80 points or 6.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,335-point plateau and it’s likely to remain rangebound on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, boosted by gains from the oil, gold and technology sectors. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to higher and the overbought Asian bourses may see mild upside – although they may see profit taking later in the day.

The SET finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the food, finance, industrial, property, resource, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rallied 27.38 points or 2.09 percent to finish at 1,334.45 after trading between 1,308.14 and 1,336.50. Volume was 7.413 billion shares worth 54.241 billion baht. There were 299 gainers and 120 decliners, with 237 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info improved 1.15 percent, while Asset World soared 2.75 percent, Banpu dropped 0.90 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.90 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical slumped 0.99 percent, Bangkok Expressway surged 1.92 percent, B. Grimm increased 1.59 percent, BTS Group gained 1.80 percent, CP All Public was up 1.17 percent, Energy Absolute added 0.74 percent, Gulf gained 1.08 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.05 percent, Krung Thai Bank vaulted 1.75 percent, Krung Thai Card strengthened 1.80 percent, PTT Oil & Retail stumbled 2.78 percent, PTT gathered 1.49 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rallied 1.26 percent, PTT Global Chemical advanced 1.00 percent, SCG Packaging expanded 1.46 percent, Siam Commercial Bank spiked 2.22 percent, TTB Bank collected 0.50 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Siam Concrete, True Corporation, Thai Oil and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 407.72 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 49,004.68, while the NASDAQ jumped 215.74 points or 0.91 percent to close at 23,817.10 and the S&P 500 added 30.82 points or 0.44 percent to end at 6,981.05.

The strength in the broader markets came as traders remain optimistic ahead of the release of earnings news from big-name tech companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL) and Meta Platforms (META).

Traders were also cautious ahead of the monetary policy announcement from the Federal Reserve later today. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board reported a significant deterioration in consumer confidence in January – hitting its lowest level since May 2014,.

Crude oil prices soared on Tuesday as U.S. naval forces have started building up near Iran, while Lebanese and Yemeni militias have pledged support to Iran, leading to a heightening of tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $1.61 or 2.66 percent at $62.24 per barrel.