Thai Stock Market Due For Consolidation On Monday

The Thai stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, collecting almost 25 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,690-point plateau although it’s likely to run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and economic slowdown. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in the red.

The SET finished barely higher on Friday as gains from the technology and food stocks were offset by weakness from the financials and resource companies.

For the day, the index rose 0.04 points or 0.00 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,690.59 after moving as low as 1,680.86. Volume was 23.209 billion shares worth 71.018 billion baht. There were 1,053 decliners and 583 gainers, with 566 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slid 0.46 percent, while Banpu advanced 0.85 percent, Bangkok Bank tumbled 1.85 percent, B Grimm sank 0.75 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods rallied 0.84 percent, Delta Electronics slumped 0.52 percent, Energy Absolute gained 0.83 percent, Gulf fell 0.50 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.65 percent, Krung Thai Bank skyrocketed 9.16 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dipped 0.40 percent, PTT retreated 1.32 percent, PTT Exploration and Production declined 1.35 percent, SCG Packaging was down 0.58 percent, Siam Commercial Bank plunged 2.92 percent, True Corporation dropped 0.81 percent, TTB Bank sank 0.78 percent and IRPC and PTT Global Chemical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened solidly lower on Friday and saw the losses only accelerate as the day progressed.

The Dow plummeted 981.40 points or 2.82 percent, while the NASDAQ plunged 335.41 points or 2.55 percent to close at 12,839.29 and the S&P 500 tumbled 121.88 points or 2.77 percent to end at 4,271.78.

For the week, the Dow slumped 1.9 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.8 percent and the S&P fell 2.8 percent.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the Federal Reserve aggressively tightening monetary policy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he sees merit in “front-end loading” policy moves and indicated a 50-basis point rate hike would be on the table at the central bank’s next meeting in early May.

Crude oil futures skidded on Friday on fears over falling energy demand and concerns about an economic slowdown. The dollar’s surge amid Fed’s aggressive stance on tightening monetary policy weighed as well on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down by $1.72 or 1.7 percent at $102.07 a barrel.

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