Thai Stock Market May Test Resistance At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) – The Thai stock market has finished higher in three straight trading days, gathering more than 25 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,585-point plateau and it’s looking at another green light again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism ahead of the trade deal between the United States and China that is expected to be signed later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the resource stocks were tempered by weakness from the financial sector.

For the day, the index added 5.53 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 1,586.16 after trading between 1,579.34 and 1,579.34. Volume was 18.884 billion shares worth 65.020 billion baht. There were 794 gainers and 757 decliners, with 512 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.47 percent, while Thailand Airport climbed 1.01 percent, Banpu advanced 0.88 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.97 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.89 percent, BTS Group added 0.75 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gathered 0.85 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 1.09 percent, PTT Global Chemical plummeted 4.22 percent, Siam Concrete tumbled 1.34 percent, TMB Bank lost 0.62 percent and Siam Commercial Bank, PTT, PTT Exploration and Production, Krung Thai Bank, Asset World and Bangkok Dusit Medical all were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks moved mostly higher on Monday, rebounding from the pullback in the previous session. With the upward move, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 ended the session at new record closing highs.

The Dow added 83.28 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 28,907.05, while the NASDAQ jumped 95.07 points or 1.04 percent to 9,273.93 and the S&P 500 rose 22.78 points or 070 percent to 3,288.13.

The strength on Wall Street came amid continued optimism about impact of the phase one China-U.S. trade deal. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled to visit Washington to sign the deal, which is said to include reduced tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for increased Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products.

Stocks saw further upside after various media reports said the Treasury Department will drop its designation of China as a “currency manipulator” ahead of the signing of the deal.

Crude oil prices declined sharply on Monday amid easing worries about U.S.-Iran tensions as the futures contract settled at its lowest level in six weeks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $0.96 or 1.6 percent at $58.08 a barrel, the lowest price since early December.

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