The Thai stock market turned lower again on Monay, one session after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 35 points or 2.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,450-point plateau and it figured to see renewed support on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive following a sharp drop in the price of oil. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
The SET finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the food, property, service and technology sectors were tempered by support from the consumer, finance, resource and industry companies.
For the day, the index lost 10.39 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 1,453.03 after trading between 1,449.73 and 1,464.12. Volume was 10.990 billion shares worth 45.979 billion baht. There were 246 decliners and 225 gainers, with 187 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info skidded 1.09 percent, Bangkok Bank jumped 1.69 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical declined 0.88 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.63 percent, B. Grimm dropped 0.89 percent, BTS Group rallied 5.15 percent, CP All Public slid 0.39 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods tanked 2.18 percent, Energy Absolute tumbled 1.92 percent, Gulf sank 0.76 percent, Kasikornbank climbed 1.02 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.51 percent, PTT Oil & Retail added 0.63 percent, PTT soared 3.01 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 5.21 percent, SCG Packaging spiked 1.94 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 5.68 percent, True Corporation stumbled 1.65 percent and TTB Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, Siam Concrete, Asset World, Banpu and Thailand Airport were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened modestly higher on Monday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.
The Dow rallied 273.17 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 42,387.57, while the NASDAQ gained 48.58 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 18,567.19 and the S&P 500 added 15.40 points or 0.27 percent to end at 5,823.52.
The strength on Wall Street came amid a steep drop by the price of oil. Oil prices fell sharply on Monday as concerns about supply disruptions faded after Israel avoided hitting Iranian oil facilities over the weekend. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December plunged $4.40 or 6.1 percent at $67.38 a barrel.
Meanwhile, traders were also looking ahead to the release of key U.S. economic data later in the week. The monthly jobs report as well as a report on personal income and spending that includes the Federal Reserves preferred inflation readings are likely to be in the spotlight.
The data could impact the outlook for the economy as well as expectations regarding how quickly the Fed will lower interest rates.