The Thai stock market has finished higher now in three straight trading days, surging more than 50 points or 4.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand finished just above the 1,100-point plateau, although traders are not sanguine about the market's chances of holding that level when it opens for trade on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly negative following a heavy selloff among commodity stocks. Gold and oil in particular figure to lead the markets lower, along with properties and technology stocks. The European markets finished mixed but little changed, while the U.S. bourses ended sharply lower - and the Asian markets are also expected to track to the downside.
The SET finished sharply higher again on Wednesday, riding gains from the energy producers and mostly higher trading from the financials.
For the day, the index surged 14.92 points or 1.37 percent to finish at 1,100.48 after trading between 1,091.19 and 1,102.44. Volume was 6.013 billion shares worth 46.588 billion baht. There were 289 gainers and 129 decliners, with 135 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, energy giant PTT was up 1.94 percent, while coal producer Banpu added 2.43 percent, Siam Commercial Bank eased 0.43 percent and Bangkok Bank collected 1.20 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on Wednesday, with a sharp drop by commodities prices contributing to significant weakness among resource stocks. Profit taking may have also contributed to the downward move following the gains seen in the three previous sessions.
Energy stocks posted particularly steep losses amid a sharp drop in the price of crude oil. Crude for June delivery plummeted $5.67 to $98.21 a barrel following the release of a report showing a bigger than expected weekly increase in crude oil inventories. The pullback by commodities prices came after the prices moved mostly higher in the two previous sessions, recovering from the sell-off seen last week. Strength in the value of the U.S. dollar contributed to the downturn.
Selling pressure was also generated by the release of disappointing quarterly results from Disney (DIS), with the entertainment giant showing a notable drop and helping to drag the Dow firmly into the red. Disney reported fiscal Q2 earnings of $0.49 per share on revenues of $9.08 billion, while analysts had expected earnings of $0.56 per share on revenues of $9.13 billion.
On the economic front, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a wider than expected U.S. trade deficit in March. The report showed that the trade deficit widened to $48.2 billion in March from a revised $45.4 billion in February. Economists had expected the deficit to widen to $47.7 billion from the $45.8 billion deficit originally reported for the previous month.
While analysts have pointed out that the wider trade deficit was largely due to higher oil prices, the data could still lead to a downward revision to the pace of GDP growth that was reported for the first quarter.
The major averages ended the session off their worst levels of the day but still closed firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell by 130.33 points or 1 percent to 12,630.03, the NASDAQ dropped 26.83 points or 0.9 percent to 2,845.06 and the S&P 500 slid 15.08 points or 1.1 percent to 1,342.08.
In economic news, Thailand will on Thursday release the results of its economic consumer confidence survey for April, with analysts expecting a score of 70.5 - down from 71.0 in March.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.