Little Movement Expected For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market on Wednesday ended the six-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 40 points or 2.4 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,645-point plateau and it’s looking at another narrow trading range again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed after the Federal Reserve signaled a rate hike in the near future, although it’s already been largely priced in. Surging crude oil prices should also limit the downside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourse were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index rose 4.35 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 1,643.44 after trading between 1,642.07 and 1,649.82. Volume was 27.517 billion shares worth 85.449 billion baht. There were 899 decliners and 802 gainers, with 534 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.45 percent, while Thailand Airport climbed 1.21 percent, Asset World advanced 0.85 percent, Banpu improved 0.94 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.87 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical accelerated 1.81 percent, Bangkok Expressway added 0.61 percent, CP All Public increased 0.84 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gathered 0.98 percent, Gulf dropped 1.00 percent, IRPC gained 1.05 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 2.79 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 1.45 percent, Krung Thai Card sank 0.83 percent, PTT soared 1.96 percent, PTT Exploration and Production surged 2.00 percent, PTT Global Chemical perked 0.44 percent, SCG Packaging strengthened 0.81 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 1.62 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.06 percent, True Corporation fell 0.41 percent and TTB Bank, BTS Group, Total Access Communication, Energy Absolute and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened firmly higher on Wednesday before late selling sent the Dow and S&P into the red.

The Dow dropped 129.64 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 34,168.09, while the NASDAQ rose 2.82 points or 0.02 percent to close at 13,542.12 and the S&P 500 fell 6.52 points or 0.15 percent to end at 4,349.93.

The late-day pullback on Wall Street came after the Fed indicated that it plans to begin raising interest rates “soon,” citing elevated inflation and a strong labor market. The Fed left interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels as widely expected but said “it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate.”

The central bank also said it would further reduce the pace of its bond purchases to $30 billion per month beginning in February, with the Fed saying it expects to end its asset purchase program by early March.

In a separate statement, the Fed outlined plans to significantly reduce the size of its balance sheet, saying it expects to start the reductions after it begins raising interest rates.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday as prices climbed amid rising geopolitical tensions. U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Moscow of damaging sanctions, including measures personally targeting President Vladmir Putin, if Russia invades Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $87.35 a barrel, the highest settlement since October 2014.