Thai Stock Market Likely To Run Out Of Steam On Thursday

The Thai stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 25 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,550-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and sinking crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the cement stocks and mixed performances from the financials and energy producers.

For the day, the index added 7.65 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 1,551.87 after trading between 1,545.33 and 1,557.08. Volume was 29.277 billion shares worth 81.901 billion baht. There were 901 gainers and 783 decliners, with 508 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.54 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 2.62 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.43 percent, Bangkok Expressway surged 5.10 percent, BTS Group spiked 2.89 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.97 percent, Gulf jumped 1.99 percent, Kasikornbank dropped 0.93 percent, Krung Thai Card soared 3.86 percent, PTT Oil & Retail climbed 1.77 percent, PTT sank 0.69 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.48 percent, PTT Global Chemical skidded 0.82 percent, Siam Commercial Bank declined 0.86 percent, Siam Concrete accelerated 2.46 percent and TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank and SCG Packaging were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday and hugged the line for much of the day but then accelerated into the red toward the close.

The Dow tumbled 382.59 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 34,960.69, while the NASDAQ dropped 130.27 points or 0.89 percent to close at 14,525.91 and the S&P 500 sank 47.81 points or 1.07 percent to end at 4,400.27.

The sell-off on Wall Street came as the Fed minutes revealed most officials at the central bank’s July monetary policy meeting believe it will be appropriate to begin tapering asset purchases this year.

The minutes showed participants also expressed a range of views on the appropriate pace of tapering asset purchases once economic conditions satisfied the “substantial further progress” criterion.

Reflecting the recent surge in new cases of the delta variant of the coronavirus, several participants noted their views on the appropriate path of asset purchases could change if the economic effects of the new strains of the virus turn out to be notably worse than anticipated.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the surge in the delta variant of the coronavirus in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.13 or 1.7 percent at $65.46 a barrel, the lowest close since May 21.

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