Thai stocks fell 0.93 percent on Tuesday as rising global oil prices worried the market, but PTT Exploration & Production rose on strong earnings expectations.
Shares in PTT Exploration rose 3.5 percent to 298 baht after Kim Eng Securities forecast the company would report an annual 29 percent rise in net profit for the second quarter to 4.28 billion baht.
Analysts also attributed the rise of PTT Exploration stocks to its acquisition of exploration rights in Myanmar and rising global oil prices.
"There were three pieces of good news for PTT Exploration today - good second quarter earnings forecast, exploration rights and high oil prices," said KGI Securities analyst Itphong Saengtubtim.
PTT Exploration is a beneficiary of higher global oil prices as the company's revenues come from selling natural gas, whose prices move in the same direction as oil prices, he said.
The benchmark Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index closed down 5.89 points at 630.81 points and the big-cap SET 50 index fell 0.9 percent to 43.17 points.
Turnover rose to 9.64 billion baht ($233.1 million) from 8.85 billion baht on Friday.
Investors were cautious after crude oil prices rose to new peaks on Tuesday on worries about scarce supplies. US light sweet crude futures hit a new 21-year high of $44.24 before easing slightly.
"Rising global oil prices undermined investor confidence, but selective buying helped support the market somewhat," said TISCO Securities strategist Viwat Techapoonpol.
He expected the market to rebound on Wednesday, with support on the main index at 630-625 points and resistance at 638-640 points.
Profit-taking ate into early gains by shares in state oil refiner Bangchak Petroleum and they ended the day unchanged at 14.6 baht after rising 1.4 percent in early trade after the firm announced it returned to profit in the second quarter and beat analyst expectations.
Lingering concerns about bad loan problems at Krung Thai Bank , Thailand's second biggest, sent its shares down 2.9 percent to 8.5 baht.
The bank sector index fell 1.7 percent.
A poor second quarter result sent shares in Thai Stanley Electric, an automotive lighting equipment maker, down 3.8 percent to 154 baht.
Stanley reported an annual 10 percent fall in net profit for the three months ending June 30 to 200.62 million baht.
Shares in K.R. Precision PCL, a disc drive component maker, fell 3.9 percent to 2.46 baht after it reported its net loss for the three months ending June 30 fell 32 percent to 136 million baht.