Thai Stock Market May Extend Winning Streak

The Thai stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing almost 30 points or 2.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,460-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, although most of the regional markets remain shuttered for the Lunar New Year holiday. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index jumped 21.59 points or 1.50 percent to finish at 1,459.68 after trading between 1,433.91 and 1,460.57. Volume was 10.049 billion shares worth 65.248 billion baht. There were 416 gainers and 87 decliners, with 172 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info perked 0.26 percent, while Asset World improved 1.57 percent, Banpu added 1.72 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 2.13 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical picked up 0.46 percent, Bangkok Expressway skyrocketed 6.25 percent, B. Grimm increased 1.32 percent, BTS Group elevated 0.79 percent, CP All Public gathered 2.53 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods strengthened 1.42 percent, Energy Absolute gained 1.24 percent, Gulf was up 2.51 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 3.52 percent, Krung Thai Bank soared 4.03 percent, Krung Thai Card surged 3.82 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 1.50 percent, PTT Global Chemical accelerated 3.77 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.97 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 2.82 percent, Siam Concrete advanced 0.91 percent, True Corporation vaulted 2.94 percent, TTB Bank expanded 1.94 percent and PTT Oil & Retail, PTT, Thai Oil and Thailand Airport were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and spent the day bouncing back and forth across the line before finally ending with mild gains.

The Dow added 32.26 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 49,533.19, while the NASDAQ gained 31.71 points or 0.14 percent to close at 22,578.38 and the S&P 500 perked 7.05 points or 0.10 percent to end at 6,843.22.

The choppy trade on Wall Street came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of key economic data in the coming days. The minutes of the Fed’s latest monetary policy meeting may also shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.

Also, investors remain leery about the effect that artificial intelligence is having on technology companies, weighing on that sector.

In economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported that homebuilder confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in February.

Crude oil prices showed another notable move to the downside on Tuesday amid reports indicating that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is leaning towards resuming oil output increases from April. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slid $0.44 or 0.7 percent to $62.45 a barrel.