Thai Stock Market May Extend Friday’s Losses

The Thai stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 30 points or 2.1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,315-point plateau and it’s likely to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is brutal on concerns of an economic slowdown in the United States. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industrial, property, service and technology sectors.

For the day, the index lost 9.67 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,313.08 after trading between 1,310.52 and 1,318.26. Volume was 7.547 billion shares worth 34.702 billion baht. There were 350 decliners and 122 gainers, with 169 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info rallied 2.15 percent, while Thailand Airport weakened 0.88 percent, Asset World and Krung Thai Bank both skidded 1.12 percent, Banpu tumbled 2.00 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.47 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.96 percent, Bangkok Expressway slid 0.65 percent, B. Grimm stumbled 1.32 percent, BTS Group surrendered 4.69 percent, CP All Public sank 0.86 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods fell 0.43 percent, Energy Absolute plunged 4.71 percent, Gulf climbed 1.05 percent, Krung Thai Card added 0.64 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slumped 1.27 percent, PTT gained 0.79 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 0.99 percent, PTT Global Chemical plummeted 6.36 percent, SCG Packaging tanked 2.52 percent, Siam Concrete declined 1.36 percent, True Corporation soared 2.73 percent, TTB Bank shed 0.59 percent and Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained well under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 610.74 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 39,737.26, while the NASDAQ tumbled 417.94 points or 2.43 percent to close at 16,776.16 and the S&P dropped 100.12 points or 1.84 percent to end at 5,346.56. For the week, the NASDAQ plummeted 3.4 percent, and the S&P 500 and the Dow both shed 2.1 percent.

Concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy continued to weigh on Wall Street following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing employment increased by much less than expected in the month of July.

While weaker than expected economic data has been a positive for the markets amid expectations it would convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, traders are concerned the Fed has waited too long and could spur a U.S. recession.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to the latest earnings news, with companies like Intel (INTC) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) leading the way lower.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, sliding for a second successive session on rising concerns about the outlook for demand due to slowing growth in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $2.79 or 3.66 percent at $73.52 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will provide July numbers for inflation; in June later today, overall consumer prices added 0.62 percent on year and core CPI rose an annual 0.36 percent.