Thai Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Friday

The Thai stock market on Thursday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than a dozen points or 0.8 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,620-point plateau and it’s expected to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is decidedly soft on concerns about the economy and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index dropped 13.08 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 1,620.28 after trading between 1,616.99 and 1,634.02. Volume was 16.636 billion shares worth 58.624 billion baht.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.54 percent, while Thailand Airport retreated 1.35 percent, Asset World plunged 2.38 percent, Banpu sank 0.73 percent, B. Grimm surged 3.29 percent, BTS Group lost 0.60 percent, CP All Public skidded 1.14 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods added 0.42 percent, Energy Absolute declined 1.30 percent, Gulf fell 0.47 percent, IRPC slid 0.67 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.70 percent, Krung Thai Bank dipped 0.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail dropped 0.82 percent, PTT slumped 0.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production weakened 0.57 percent, PTT Global Chemical climbed 1.08 percent, SCG Packaging stumbled 1.29 percent, Siam Commercial Bank gave away 1.29 percent, Siam Concrete surrendered 1.19 percent, True Corporation was down 0.43 percent and Thai Oil, TTB Bank, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Bangkok Expressway and Krung Thai Card were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow plummeted 773.26 points or 2.28 percent to finish at 33,193.09, while the NASDAQ plunged 356.54 points or 3.19 percent to close at 10.814.35 and the S&P 500 tumbled 99.45 points or 2.49 percent to end at 3,895.87.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates continued to weigh on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday was more hawkish than expected.

A batch of disappointing U.S. economic data also added to concerns the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes will push the economy into a recession.

Retail sales dropped more than expected last month, as did industrial production. Also, the New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserves showed contractions in regional manufacturing activity in the month of December.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about easing supply following a partial restart of the Keystone Pipeline. The dollar’s rise on hawkish comments by the Federal Reserve weighed as well on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $1.17 or 1.5 percent at $76.11 a barrel.