(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 35 points or 2.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,410-point plateau and it's looking at a soft start on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests renewed pressure thanks to a rebound by crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the finance, property, resource, service and technology sectors.
For the day, the index improved 13.05 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 1,410.39 after trading between 1,407.00 and 1,422.96. Volume was 9.261 billion shares worth 61.545 billion baht. There were 298 gainers and 160 decliners, with 187 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info, SCG Packaging and Siam Concrete all rose 0.55 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 2.09 percent, Asset World soared 3.06 percent, Banpu plummeted 5.56 percent, Bangkok Bank vaulted 2.45 percent, B. Grimm accelerated 2.91 percent, BTS Group was up 1.51 percent, CP All Public jumped 1.71 percent, Energy Absolute increased 0.80 percent, Gulf added 0.91 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.34 percent, Krung Thai Bank spiked 2.96 percent, Krung Thai Card strengthened 1.79 percent, PTT Oil & Retail expanded 0.90 percent, PTT gained 0.75 percent, PTT Exploration and Production shed 0.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 3.73 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 1.39 percent, Thai Oil surged 5.06 percent, True Corporation improved 0.74 percent, TTB Bank advanced 0.92 percent and Charoen Pokphand Foods, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and bounced back and forth cross the unchanged line before settling slightly in the red.
The Dow shed 84.41 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 46,124.06, while the NASDAQ dropped 184.87 points or 0.84 percent to end at 21,761.89 and the S&P 500 sank 24.63 points or 0.37 percent to close at 6,556.37.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid a rebound by the price of crude oil, with international benchmark Brent crude futures surging back above $100 a barrel.
Crude oil prices surged on Tuesday as market participants found U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of U.S.-Iran peace talks to be unfounded. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $3.90 or 4.43 percent at $92.03 per barrel.
Iran's foreign ministry said Trump's remarks were "part of efforts to reduce energy prices and buy time" for military plans.
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