Thai Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

The Thai stock market on Monday snapped the two-day slide in which it had dipped just 7 points or 0.4 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,610-point plateau and it’s expected to remain rangebound again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests directionless trade amidst a lack of catalysts, with weakness from the oil stocks offset by gains from technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SET finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the financials were offset by weakness from the energy producers.

For the day, the index rose 1.06 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 1,612.59 after trading between 1,611.78 and 1,625.56. Volume was 32.500 billion shares worth 88.490 billion baht. There were 1,075 decliners and 561 gainers, with 430 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport advanced 0.78 percent, while Asset World rallied 2.49 percent, Bangkok Asset Management added 0.54 percent, Bangkok Bank climbed 1.29 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gained 0.47 percent, Bangkok Expressway shed 0.60 percent, Gulf retreated 1.45 percent, Kasikornbank spiked 2.11 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.92 percent, Krung Thai Card tumbled 1.70 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.80 percent, PTT Exploration and Production fell 0.41 percent, PTT Global Chemical slid 0.40 percent, SCG Packaging gathered 0.89 percent, Siam Commercial Bank skidded 0.97 percent, Siam Concrete lost 0.47 percent, TTB Bank jumped 1.75 percent and Advanced Info, BTS Group, Charoen Pokphand Foods and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages quickly headed south on Monday; the Dow and the S&P saw the losses accelerate as the day progressed, while the NASDAQ ended up in positive territory.

The Dow dropped 126.15 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 34,630.24, while the NASDAQ gained 67.23 points or 0.49 percent to end at 13,881.72 and the S&P 500 fell 3.37 points or 0.08 percent to close at 4,226.52.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves after the major averages climbed to their best closing levels in a month last week.

Traders remain optimistic about the economic outlook but are still on edge about the possibility of the Federal Reserve scaling back its ultra-easy monetary policy.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Monday, coming off 30-month highs after data showed a drop in China’s crude oil imports in April. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended down by $0.39 or 0.6 percent at $69.23 a barrel.