Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 70 points or 5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,460-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft as traders take a wait-and-see attitude regarding stimulus and coronavirus vaccines. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and energy producers.

For the day, the index gained 9.28 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 1,461.95 after trading between 1,440.59 and 1,468.60. Volume was 22.526 billion shares worth 77.719 billion baht. There were 960 gainers and 629 decliners, with 390 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.85 percent, while Thailand Airport climbed 1.63 percent, Asset World soared 4.33 percent, Bangkok Bank rallied 2.54 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical spiked 3.94 percent, Bangkok Expressway jumped 1.78 percent, BTS Group advanced 1.06 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gathered 1.89 percent, Global Power Synergy plummeted 3.50 percent, IRPC accelerated 3.80 percent, Kasikornbank surged 3.14 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 1.80 percent, PTT perked 3.66 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 2.89 percent, PTT Global Chemical strengthened 3.02 percent, Siam Commercial Bank improved 2.93 percent, Siam Concrete rose 2.14 percent, TMB Bank was up 1.82 percent and Gulf was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mildly negative as stocks failed to sustain an initial move to the upside and moved modestly lower over the course of the trading session on Tuesday.

The Dow shed 68.30 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 30,335.67, while the NASDAQ sank 49.20 points or 0.38 percent to end at 12,850.22 and the S&P 500 fell 8.32 points or 0.22 percent to close at 3,727.04.

Stocks initially benefited from window dressing, as some fund managers looked to further boost their portfolios going into the end of the year. The initial advance lifted the major averages to new record intraday highs, although buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington after President Donald Trump signed a coronavirus relief and government spending bill over the weekend.

Trump called for the direct payments included in the bill to be increased to $2,000 from $600, and the House voted Monday to approve a measure increasing the size of the stimulus checks. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., blocked an effort by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to unanimously approve the House bill.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday amid hopes energy demand will pick up if U.S. policymakers decide to provide additional stimulus to boost economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.38 or 0.8 percent at $48.00 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see November results for retail sales, current account and its coincident index later today. In October, sales were down 5.7 percent on year, while the current account showed a surplus of $0.99 billion and the coincident index had a score of 126.48.

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