The Thai stock market had moved higher in four straight sessions, jumping more than 50 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,545-point plateau although investors figure to lock in gains on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian is mixed to lower thanks to renewed concerns over bond yields. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the somewhat overbought Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The SET finished sharply higher on Wednesday with gains across the board - especially from the financial shares and energy producers.
For the day, the index spiked 40.04 points or 2.66 percent to finish at 1,543.40 after trading between 1,510.07 and 1,543.48. Volume was 30.143 billion shares worth 118.270 billion baht. There were 1,189 gainers and 546 decliners, with 315 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 2.72 percent, while Thailand Airport soared 4.21 percent, Asset World advanced 0.99 percent, Bangkok Asset Management gathered 2.34 percent, Bangkok Bank spiked 3.28 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical rallied 3.47 percent, Bangkok Expressway accelerated 5.03 percent, BTS Group gained 2.15 percent, Com7 skyrocketed 7.80 percent, CP All Public surged 7.05 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 5.31 percent, Gulf rose 1.46 percent, Kasikornbank collected 2.44 percent, Krung Thai Bank gained 2.52 percent, PTT perked 3.14 percent, PTT Exploration and Production improved 0.89 percent, PTT Global Chemical was up 2.79 percent, SCG Packaging strengthened 1.05 percent, Siam Commercial Bank rose 1.40 percent, Siam Concrete added 1.91 percent and TMB Bank soared 3.57 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened mixed on Wednesday but ended firmly in the red, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ hit especially hard.
The Dow sank 121.43 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 31,270.09, while the NASDAQ plummeted 361.04 points or 2.70 percent to end at 12,997.75 and the S&P 500 dropped 50.57 points or 1.31 percent to close at 3,819.72.
The continued weakness on Wall Street came as bond yields saw a notable rebound after trending lower over the past few sessions. Yields remain well off the highs set last week, but renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates and inflation weighed on highly-flying tech stocks.
The rebound by yields came amid optimism about the coronavirus vaccine rollouts, which had also contributed to an advance by stocks futures before the bond markets opened. President Joe Biden has said the U.S. will have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May.
In economic news, payroll processor ADP noted weaker than expected private sector job growth in February, while the Institute for Supply Management reported a slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity last month.
Crude oil futures were sharply higher Wednesday amid speculation that OPEC may decide to extend production curbs for the near future. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up $1.53 or 2.62 percent at $61.28 a barrel.
Closer to home, Thailand will see February results for its consumer confidence index later today; in January, the index score was 47.8.
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