Bargain Hunting Likely To Lift Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market on Wednesday ended the seven-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 45 points or 3.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,370-point plateau and it’s looking at another green light for Thursday’s trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the food, industrial, property, resource, services and technology sectors.

For the day, the index advanced 11.29 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 1,370.55 after trading between 1,356.10 and 1,375.82. Volume was 18.049 billion shares worth 41.059 billion baht. There were 335 gainers and 164 decliners, with 158 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport was up 0.78 percent, while Asset World climbed 1.07 percent, Banpu soared 4.72 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.35 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gathered 3.54 percent, Bangkok Expressway slumped 1.22 percent, B. Grimm rallied 2.83 percent, BTS Group firmed 1.81 percent, CP All Public increased 1.32 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods accelerated 2.79 percent, Delta Electronics surged 4.58 percent, Energy Absolute improved 1.47 percent, Gulf added 0.59 percent, Kasikornbank dropped 0.81 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.62 percent, Krung Thai Card spiked 2.31 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 0.56 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 0.33 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.92 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.89 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.38 percent, Thai Oil jumped 3.06 percent, True Corporation strengthened 1.38 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.54 percent and PTT Global Chemical, Advanced Info and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, faded midday but rallied late to finish modestly in the green.

The Dow added 75.86 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 38,661.05, while the NASDAQ advanced 91.96 points or 0.58 percent to close at 16,031.54 and the S&P 500 rose 26.11 points or 0.51 percent to end at 5,104.76.

The rebound on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Powell told the House Financial Services Committee it will likely be appropriate for the Fed to begin lowering interest rates at “some point this year,” although he reiterated officials need “greater confidence” inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. increased by slightly less than expected in February.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday after data showed large declines in gasoline and distillate stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.98 or 1.25 percent at $79.13 a barrel.