Thai Stock Market May See Additional Support

(RTTNews) - The Thai Stock market on Wednesday snapped the four-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 35 points or 2.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,515-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopes for an end to the hostilities in the Middle East. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets are also expected to track to the upside.

The SET finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the industrial, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 33.70 points or 2.27 percent to finish at 1,517.26 after trading between 1,493.28 and 1,521.02. Volume was 10.641 billion shares worth 67.660 billion baht. There were 234 gainers and 229 decliners, with 200 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info increased 0.85 percent, while Asset World slumped 0.94 percent, Banpu climbed 0.90 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical contracted 0.55 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.95 percent, B. Grimm retreated 1.48 percent, Energy Absolute added 0.77 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.51 percent, PTT Oil & Retail jumped 1.63 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rose 0.33 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.64 percent, SCG Packaging improved 0.82 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.38 percent, Siam Concrete advanced 0.88 percent, Thai Oil vaulted 1.68 percent, True Corporation soared 3.55 percent, TTB Bank dropped 0.88 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Krung Thai Card, Gulf, PTT, CP All Public, Thailand Airport and BTS Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to higher as the major averages opened mixed but trended higher throughout the session, finally finishing mixed.

The Dow shed 67.36 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 49,693.20, while the NASDAQ rallied 314.14 points of 1.20 percent to end at a record 26,402.34 and the S&P 500 gained 43.29 points or 0.58 percent to close at 7,444.25, also a record.

The mixed performance on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. shot up much more than expected in April, marking the largest jump since March 2022.

Following the data, interest rate-sensitive utilities and housing stocks showed significant moves to the downside on the day.

The rally by the NASDAQ reflected substantial strength among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent surge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Crude oil prices pulled back on Wednesday as the upcoming negotiations between the presidents of the U.S. and China have increased expectations of an end to the U.S.-Iran standoff despite OPEC and IEA oil forecast reports warning of a supply-demand mismatch. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was down $1.04 or 1.02 percent at $101.14 per barrel.