Steady Start Seen For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market on Monday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 40 points or 2.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,420-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and fairly flat, with many of the regional bourses due for profit taking after big recent gains. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly lower on Monday as losses from the finance, resource and service sectors were mitigated by support from the food, property and industrial companies.

For the day, the index dipped 2.55 points or 0.18 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,417.21 after peaking at 1,431.51. Volume was 10.095 billion shares worth 42.990 billion baht. There were 285 decliners and 204 gainers, with 157 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info strengthened 1.37 percent, while Thailand Airport slipped 0.36 percent, Asset World gained 0.56 percent, Banpu slumped 1.29 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.54 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tumbled 1.85 percent, Bangkok Expressway fell 0.62 percent, B. Grimm weakened 1.24 percent, BTS Group gave away 0.67 percent, CP All Public was down 0.88 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods and Krung Thai Bank both shed 0.52 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 2.67 percent, Gulf lost 0.55 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 1.12 percent, Krung Thai Card dropped 1.07 percent, PTT surrendered 1.48 percent, PTT Exploration and Production sank 0.91 percent, PTT Global Chemical spiked 2.04 percent, SCG Packaging added 0.68 percent, Siam Concrete climbed 1.03 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.81 percent, TTB Bank stumbled 1.20 percent and Siam Commercial Bank, PTT Oil & Retail and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests very mild upside as the major averages opened higher on Monday, slipped into the red late but managed to finish just above the unchanged line by the close.

The Dow rose 34.54 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,095.86, while the NASDAQ gained 40.50 points or 0.30 percent to close at 13,518.78 and the S&P 500 roe 7.64 points or 0.18 percent to end at 4,365.98.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to express optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement last Wednesday combined with softer than expected jobs data last Friday has led to optimism that the central bank is done raising interest rates.

Treasuries showed a significant pullback during trading on Monday after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions. Bond prices came under pressure early in the session and saw further downside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 10.4 basis points to 4.662 percent.

A late round of profit taking following recent gains sent markets briefly into the red before a mild recovery.

Oil futures settled higher on Monday after Russia and Saudi Arabia confirmed that they will extend their voluntary production and supply cuts to the end of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.31 or 0.4 percent at $80.82 a barrel.