No Help Yet For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 35 points or 2.8 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,290-point plateau and it’s looking at another rough session on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed ahead of more earnings news and economic data. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses figure to track that lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the food, finance, consumer, property, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index lost 6.50 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 1,291.58 after trading between 1,288.22 and 1,295.88. Volume was 8.431 billion shares worth 34.178 billion baht. There were 340 decliners and 128 gainers, with 179 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info and Siam Concrete both added 0.45 percent, while Thailand Airport sank 0.87 percent, Asset World and Charoen Pokphand Foods both plunged 2.11 percent, Banpu plummeted 2.57 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.38 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 0.94 percent, Bangkok Expressway climbed 1.26 percent, BTS Group slumped 0.93 percent, CP All Public rallied 1.79 percent, Energy Absolute crashed 6.61 percent, Gulf shed 0.55 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.39 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tumbled 1.89 percent, PTT Exploration and Production and PTT Global Chemical both improved 0.70 percent, SCG Packaging jumped 1.79 percent, Thai Oil tanked 2.39 percent, True Corporation stumbled 1.65 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.20 percent and Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, B. Grimm and PTT were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed, spent most of the day in positive territory before a late slump saw some of them end in the end.

The Dow gained 81.20 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 39,935.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 160.69 points or 0.93 percent to end at 17,181.72 and the S&P 500 sank 27.91 points or 0.51 percent to close at 5,399.22.

Stocks gained in strength early in the session thanks to data showing a sharper than expected acceleration in U.S. economic growth in the second quarter.

The Commerce Department said the GDP growth reflected increases in consumer spending, private inventory investment, and nonresidential fixed investment – while the personal consumption expenditures price index slowed to 2.6 percent.

Also, the Commerce Department said durable goods orders plummeted in June, while the Labor Department noted a slowdown in initial jobless claims last week.

Oil climbed higher on Thursday, extending recent gains after data showed a sharper than expected acceleration in U.S. GDP growth in Q2. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.69 at $78.28 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand is scheduled to release June figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today; in May, imports were down 1.7 percent and exports rose 7.2 percent for a trade surplus of $660 million.