Thai Shares Likely Rangebound Again On Thursday

The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up just 3 points or 0.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,530-point plateau and it’s likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of key inflation data from the United States. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the food, finance, energy and industrial sectors were capped by weakness from the technology and packaging companies.

For the day, the index gained 9.86 points or 0.65 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,528.30 after moving as low as 1,514.38. Volume was 13.209 billion shares worth 50.042 billion baht. There were 285 gainers and 177 decliners, with 171 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info increased 0.91 percent, while Asset World strengthened 1.42 percent, Banpu improved 1.08 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.76 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical spiked 1.79 percent, Bangkok Expressway added 0.57 percent, B. Grimm gathered 1.34 percent, BTS Group advanced 2.08 percent, CP All Public collected 1.27 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.52 percent, Energy Absolute increased 1.31 percent, Gulf gained 1.55 percent, Kasikornbank soared 3.25 percent, Krung Thai Card surged 3.83 percent, PTT Oil & Retail rose 0.48 percent, PTT perked 0.72 percent, PTT Exploration and Production jumped 1.24 percent, PTT Global Chemical spiked 2.56 percent, SCG Packaging shed 0.63 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.90 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.31 percent, Thai Oil soared 2.94 percent, True Corporation rallied 2.26 percent, TTB Bank climbed 1.18 percent and Thailand Airport was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday before heading south shortly thereafter; they made back some ground as the day progressed but still finished solidly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 191.13 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 35,123.36, while the NASDAQ dropped 162.31 points or 1.17 percent to close at 13.722.02 and the S&P 500 sank 31.67 points or 0.70 percent to end at 4,467.71.

The lower close on Wall Street came as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of a key report on consumer price inflation later today.

Traders will be looking for the report to reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month; CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.5 percent chance the Fed will keep rates steady in September.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday, extending recent gains as output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia continued to raise concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery jumped $1.48 pr 1.8 percent to $84.40 a barrel.