The Thai stock market has shown a positive trend for two consecutive sessions, accumulating nearly 10 points or a 0.7 percent increase. The Stock Exchange of Thailand is currently just below the 1,380-point level, although it may lose momentum on Tuesday.
Globally, the forecast for Asian markets remains unclear due to uncertainties around interest rates. While the European markets have shown positive performance, the US markets displayed mixed results, a trend likely to be reflected in the Asian markets as well.
On Monday, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) saw slight growth with increase in consumption, finance, industrial and technology sectors, despite a decline in food and resource firms. The index rose by 1.54 points or 0.11 percent, ending at 1,379.48 after trading between 1,374.24 and 1,384.32. It was a busy day with 7.995 billion shares worth 27.472 billion baht being traded.
There were positive results from several active companies including Asset World which increased by 0.98 percent, Banpu which improved by 0.90 percent, and Bangkok Expressway which rallied 1.23 percent. However, other companies such as CP All Public and Charoen Pokphand Foods faced losses of 0.46 percent and 1.62 percent respectively.
The Wall Street response is ambiguous as the major indexes began moderately higher on Monday but mostly saw a downwards trend, with the exception of the NASDAQ which experienced a slight uptick at the end of the trading day.
Traders had their first chance to react on Monday to the US consumer price inflation data from last Friday, which largely met expectations. However, uncertainty remains as market players ponder whether inflation is slowing rapidly enough to ensure the anticipated interest rate reductions by the Federal Reserve.
A report from the Institute for Supply Management indicated unanticipated modest growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in March. This resulted in a spike in Treasury yields and consequently led to a pullback in stocks.
Concerns around potential drops in supply following reports of an Israeli attack close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus pushed oil prices higher. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May closed up by $0.54 or 0.65 percent at $83.71 a barrel.
