Thai Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

The Thai stock market has finished lower in back-to-back trading days, sliding almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,635-point plateau and it’s expected to extend its losses again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation, thanks to sliding crude oil prices and coronavirus concerns. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index sank 11.92 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 1,636.45 after trading between 1,635.11 and 1,658.08. Volume was 38.510 billion shares worth 101.888 billion baht. There were 1,369 decliners and 495 gainers, with 434 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info soared 3.13 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.40 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.88 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical retreated 1.29 percent, Gulf gained 0.60 percent, Kasikornbank tanked 2.87 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 0.90 percent, Krung Thai Card declined 1.50 percent, PTT surrendered 1.32 percent, PTT Exploration and Production lost 0.46 percent, PTT Global Chemical sank 1.25 percent, SCG Packaging plummeted 3.36 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tumbled 1.44 percent, Siam Concrete fell 0.44 percent, TTB Bank was down 0.94 percent and Bangkok Expressway, BTS Group, Charoen Pokphand Foods and PTT Oil & Retail were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as Dow and S&P opened in the red on Tuesday and finished the same way, while the NASDAQ opened slightly higher and managed to hold on to slim gains for a fresh record high.

The Dow dropped 269.09 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 35,100.00, while the NASDAQ added 10.81 points or 0.07 percent to close at 15,374.33 and the S&P 500 fell 15.40 points or 0.34 percent to end at 4,520.03.

The mixed open on Wall Street resulted in a cautious session with investors weighing the likely impact of surging coronavirus of the Delta variant on the pace of economic recovery.

Crude oil futures settled notably lower on Tuesday amid renewed worries about the outlook for energy demand due to continued surge in coronavirus cases in several countries. The drop in prices was also due to Saudi Arabia’s decision to slash crude prices for Asia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $0.94 or 1.4 percent at $68.35 a barrel.