Losses May Accelerate For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 7 points or 0.5 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,460-point plateau and it’s looking at another soft start again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with many of the overbought regional bourses likely to see profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished barely lower on Wednesday as losses from the financials and resource stocks were offset by support from the industrials and properties.

For the day, the index eased 0.52 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 1,461.58 after trading between 1,460.23 and 1,471.69. Volume was 12.541 billion shares worth 12.541 billion baht. There were 249 gainers and 245 decliners, with 174 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World skidded 1.05 percent, while Banpu plummeted 4.73 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.63 percent, B. Grimm soared 4.35 percent, BTS Group tumbled 1.72 percent, CP All Public rose 0.38 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods sank 0.83 percent, Energy Absolute stumbled 1.12 percent, Gulf lost 0.43 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.32 percent, Krung Thai Bank retreated 1.44 percent, PTT Oil & Retail declined 0.58 percent, PTT slumped 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production slid 0.36 percent, SCG Packaging surged 4.07 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dropped 0.89 percent, Siam Concrete spiked 2.93 percent, Thai Oil was down 0.48 percent, True Corporation advanced 0.90 percent, TTB Bank climbed 1.03 percent and Krung Thai Card, PTT Global Chemical, Advanced Info, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Thailand Airport and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but trended lower throughout the session, finally ending mostly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 293.47 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 41,914.75, while the NASDAQ perked 7.68 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,082.21 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.67 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,722.26.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength, which has lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales pulled back sharply in the month of August.

Data on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal income and spending are due later this week, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech later today is also in focus.

Oil prices fell sharply Wednesday on uncertainty about the outlook for demand and easing concerns over supply disruptions in Libya. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.87 or 2.6 percent at $69.69 a barrel.