The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one session after it had ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 35 points or 2.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,640-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on solid earnings news and the outlook for the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the energy producers and a mixed picture from the financial shares.
For the day, the index advanced 12.67 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 1,638.24 after trading between 1,623.24 and 1,642.07. Volume was 22.610 billion shares worth 56.879 billion baht. There were 939 gainers and 604 decliners, with 421 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info jumped 1.79 percent, while Banpu spiked 2.59 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.59 percent, Bangkok Expressway advanced 0.92 percent, BTS Group shed 0.78 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gained 0.85 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 1.58 percent, PTT perked 0.58 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.41 percent, PTT Global Chemical climbed 0.95 percent, Siam Commercial Bank lost 0.40 percent, Siam Concrete was up 0.49 percent, TMB Bank added 0.65 percent and Thailand Airport, Bangkok Medical and Krung Thai Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks opened higher on Wednesday and stayed that way throughout the day - offsetting the pullback in the previous session.
The Dow added 240.29 points or 0.93 percent to 26,202.73, while the NASDAQ gained 71.65 points or 0.90 percent to 8,020.21 and the S&P 500 rose 23.92 points or 0.82 percent to 2,924.43.
The initial strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from retail giants Target (TGT) and Lowe's (LOW). The results from the retailers added to optimism that consumer spending will continue to support the U.S. economy despite early indicators of a looming recession.
Stocks remained positive following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting, which showed the central bank intends to remain flexible regarding future changes to interest rates.
The Fed is scheduled to hold its next monetary policy meeting September 17th and 18th, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating at 98.1 percent chance of another 25 basis point rate cut.
Crude oil prices eased Wednesday on lingering concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $0.45 or 0.8 percent at $55.68 a barrel.
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