Thai Shares May Inch Higher Again On Wednesday

The Thai stock market has tracked higher in four straight sessions, collecting more than 20 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,435-point plateau and it’s likely to hold steady in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished slightly higher again on Tuesday as gains from the consumer, service and technology sectors were offset by weakness from the food, finance and resource companies.

For the day, the index perked 1.07 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 1,436.60 after trading between 1,431.56 and 1,439.35. Volume was 11.178 billion shares worth 54.408 billion baht. There were 260 gainers and 244 decliners, with 170 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.17 percent, while Thailand Airport soared 3.19 percent, Asset World strengthened 1.60 percent, Banpu surged 4.000 percent, Bangkok Bank and Kasikornbank both collected 0.32 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical improved 0.73 percent, Bangkok Expressway stumbled 0.84 percent, B. Grimm declined 1.29 percent, BTS Group rallied 1.26 percent, CP All Public slid 0.38 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.22 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 11.43 percent, Gulf gained 0.45 percent, Krung Thai Bank added 0.49 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.54 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slumped 1.18 percent, PTT Exploration and Production sank 0.73 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.61 percent, SCG Packaging dropped 0.91 percent, Siam Concrete plunged 3.21 percent, Thai Oil fell 0.49 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.93 percent, TTB Bank skidded 1.02 percent and Siam Commercial Bank and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened slightly higher on Tuesday, hugged the line for most of the day before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 60.32 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 41,606.18, while the NASDAQ added 35.93 points or 0.20 percent to close at 17,628.06 and the S&P 500 perked 1.49 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,634.58.

Optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to early strength on Wall Street, but buying interest waned over the course of the session.

Stocks ended the day little changed following the release of a Commerce Department report unexpectedly showing a modest increase by U.S. retail sales in the month of August.

While the data is positive for the economy, it was seen as reducing the likelihood the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by 50 basis points when announcing its highly anticipated monetary policy decision later today.

Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday as concerns about tight supply in the market offset continued uncertainty about the outlook for demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.10 or 1.5 percent at $71.19 a barrel.