Continued Consolidation Likely For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 30 points or 1.9 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,625-point plateau and it’s expected to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative, with oil and technology stocks expected to lead the way lower. 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 shed 9.05 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 1,626.23 after trading between 1,625.93 and 1,636.97. Volume was 20.330 billion shares worth 63.643 billion baht. There were 1,111 decliners and 578 gainers, with 516 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info jumped 1.82 percent, while Thailand Airport shed 0.72 percent, Banpu sank 0.82 percent, Bangkok Bank lost 0.72 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tumbled 1.85 percent, CP All Public declined 1.92 percent, Gulf was down 0.53 percent, IRPC slumped 1.80 percent, Kasikornbank dipped 0.34 percent, Krung Thai Bank fell 0.67 percent, Krung Thai Card retreated 1.26 percent, PTT stumbled 1.33 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.96 percent, PTT Global Chemical dipped 0.53 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tanked 3.48 percent, TTB Bank slipped 0.80 percent and PTT Oil & Retail, Energy Absolute and Charoen Pokphand Foods were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened in the red on Tuesday and spent most of the day there, although the Dow crept above the unchanged line at the end.

The Dow added 48.38 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 31,928.62, while the NASDAQ plummeted 270.83 points or 2.35 percent to close at 11,264.45 and the S&P 500 sank 32.27 points or 0.81 percent to end at 3,941.48.

A steep drop by shares of Snap Inc. (SNAP) weighed on the tech sector after the company warned of weaker than expected second quarter results.

The pullback also reflected lingering concerns that aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve could lead to a recession; the Fed is due to release the minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting later today, which may shed additional light on the outlook for rates.

Adding to the negative sentiment, the Commerce Department reported a much steeper than expected drop in new home sales in April.

Crude oil futures slipped on Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to China’s increased Covid-19 curbs. Markets are also worried that aggressive monetary policy tightening by central banks to control inflation could tip the global economy into a recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July fell $0.52 or 0.5 percent at $109.77 a barrel.