Thai Stock Market May End Losing Streak

The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,540-point plateau although it’s likely to stop the bleeding on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates and support from technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the food, finance, industrial, energy and technology stocks.

For the day, the index shed 6.23 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 1,540.94 after trading between 1,535.82 and 1,550.46. Volume was 12.160 billion shares worth 41.6-8 billion baht. There were 330 decliners and 142 gainers, with 174 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.93 percent, while Thailand Airport rose 0.35 percent, Asset World sank 0.97 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.30 percent, Bangkok Expressway added 0.58 percent, B. Grimm improved 0.76 percent, BTS Group improved 0.70 percent, CP All Public lost 0.39 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.94 percent, Energy Absolute advanced 0.82 percent, Krung Thai Bank skidded 1.04 percent, Krung Thai Card declined 1.58 percent, PTT Oil & Retail stumbled 1.00 percent, PTT slumped 1.43 percent, PTT Exploration and Production surrendered 1.79 percent, PTT Global Chemical tanked 2.08 percent, Siam Concrete slid 0.32 percent, Thai Oil plunged 2.05 percent, True Corporation shed 0.71 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.16 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, SCG Packaging, Banpu, Gulf and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow advanced 87.13 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 34,663.72, while the NASDAQ spiked 156.37 points or 1.14 percent to close at 13,917.89 and the S&P 500 gained 29.97 points or 0.67 percent to end at 4,487.46.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ received a boost from a surge by shares of Tesla (TSLA), with the electric car maker spiking by 10.1 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the company’s stock to Overweight from Equal-Weight.

The overall strength on Wall Street partly reflected easing concerns about the outlook for interest rates after reports suggested a shift in Federal Reserve officials’ stance on rates.

CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.0 chance the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged next week. The outlook for November is a little more uncertain, however, with the FedWatch Tool indicating a 54.5 percent chance rates will remain unchanged and a 42.6 percent chance of another quarter point rate hike.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday, retreating from last week’s 10-month highs on concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.22 or 0.3 percent at $87.29 a barrel.