The Thai stock market rebounded on Wednesday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 15 points or 1.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,365-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed consolidation on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with optimism for a Covid-19 vaccine giving way to concerns about the surging virus. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SET finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and energy producers.
For the day, the index climbed 14.78 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 1,364.59 after trading between 1,341.46 and 1,364.64. Volume was 21.230 billion shares worth 66.934 billion baht. There were 929 gainers and 641 decliners, with 481 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.57 percent, while Thailand Airport climbed 1.14 percent, Asset World advanced 1.00 percent, Bangkok Bank gained 0.85 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical gathered 1.34 percent, Bangkok Expressway perked 1.10 percent, Gulf soared 3.60 percent, IRPC surged 2.74 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.53 percent, Krung Thai Bank rose 0.99 percent, PTT increased 1.33 percent, PTT Exploration and Production spiked 1.92 percent, PTT Global Chemical accelerated 2.48 percent, Siam Commercial Bank improved 0.61 percent, Siam Concrete rallied 0.83 percent, TMB Bank dropped 1.01 percent and BTS Group and Charoen Pokphand Foods were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened higher on Wednesday but fell into the red as the day progressed and ended firmly under water.
The Dow dropped 344.93 points or 1.16 percent to finish at 29,438.42, while the NASDAQ sank 97.74 points or 0.82 percent to end at 11,801.60 and the S&P 500 lost 41.74 points or 1.16 percent to close at 3,567.79.
The late-day sell-off on Wall Street came amid renewed concerns about new restrictions and lockdowns as a result of the recent surge in coronavirus cases after data showed there were nearly 162,000 new cases and 1,707 deaths on Tuesday.
Concerns about the economic impact of the lockdowns overshadowed upbeat news regarding the coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed by Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX). The companies plan to submit a request to the FDA for an Emergency Use Authorization for the vaccine "within days."
Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday amid expectations that OPEC will extend its current production cuts further into 2021. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December were up $0.39 or 0.9 percent to settle at $41.82 a barrel.
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