Thai Shares Draw Positive Lead On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market on Wednesday snapped the three-day slide in which it had tumbled almost 50 points or 3.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand settled just shy of the 1,275-point plateau, and now the market is poised to continue its recovery on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets i9s broadly positive thanks to a sharp rebound in the price of crude oil - while window dressing ahead of the year's end also may play a role. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The SET finished sharply higher on Wednesday as investors went bargain hunting - particularly among the financial shares and energy producers.

For the day, the index jumped 12.84 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 1,274.50 after trading between 1,266.25 and 1,275.94. Volume was 7.680 billion shares worth 40.874 billion baht. There were 637 gainers and 387 decliners, with 278 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, coal miner Banpu was unchanged, while Bangkok Bank collected 0.32 percent, Kasikornbank jumped 2.72 percent, energy giant PTT surged 3.33 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.42 percent, PTT Global Chemical soared 3.63 percent, Siam Commercial Bank climbed 1.26 percent and Siam Concrete slipped 0.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as stocks moved higher on Wednesday, fueled by a gain in the energy sector. The gains extended a recent upward move, with the major averages closing higher for the third straight day.

The Dow jumped 185.34 points or 1.1 percent to 17,602.61, while the NASDAQ advanced 44.82 points or 0.9 percent to 5,045.93 and the S&P 500 surged 25.32 points or 1.2 percent to 2,064.29.

The strength followed a substantial increase by the price of crude oil, which climbed further off its recent lows after an unexpected sharp decline in inventories.

Traders were also reacting to a slew of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing that new home sales increased for the second consecutive month in November. A separate report from the University of Michigan said that consumer sentiment improved by more than estimated in December.

Also, the Commerce Department noted that personal income and spending rose at the same rate in November, while a separate report showed that durable goods orders were virtually unchanged in November after surging 2.9 percent in October.