(RTTNews) - Ahead of Wednesday's holiday for Chulalongkorn, the Thai stock market had halted the three-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 15 points or 0.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,630-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on mixed earnings news and a jump in crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SET finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the energy producers and a mixed picture from the financial sector.
For the day, the index advanced 10.68 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 1,631.46 after trading between 1,624.44 and 1,631.94. Volume was 14.277 billion shares worth 38.840 billion baht. There were 874 gainers and 657 decliners, with 460 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.86 percent, while Asset World jumped 1.63 percent, Banpu advanced 0.86 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.60 percent, BTS Group climbed 1.49 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods gained 0.98 percent, Kasikornbank lost 0.67 percent, Krung Thai Bank fell 0.59 percent, PTT perked 1.13 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.43 percent, PTT Global Chemical was up 1.00 percent, Siam Commercial Bank gathered 0.88 percent, Siam Concrete rose 0.27 percent, TMB Bank sank 0.70 percent and Thailand Airport, Bangkok Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as stocks showed a lack of direction on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending modestly higher.
The Dow added 45.85 points or 0.17 percent to end at 26,833.95, while the NASDAQ rose 15.50 points or 0.19 percent to 8,119.79 and the S&P 500 rose 8.53 points or 0.28 percent to 3,004.52.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders digested soft earnings news from big-name companies like Boeing (BA), Caterpillar (CAT) and Texas Instruments (TXN).
A lack of major developments on the Brexit and U.S.-China trade deal fronts also kept traders reluctant to make more significant moves.
Crude oil futures rose sharply and settled at a one-month high on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected decline in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $1.49 or 2.7 percent at $55.97 a barrel.
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