Thai Stock Market Likely Rangebound On Thursday

The Thai stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 15 points or 1 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,450-point plateau and it’s expected to see little movement on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement as traders keep a watchful eye on the unrest in the Middle East. The European and U.S. markets were flat with a touch of upside and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index stumbled 13.26 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 1,451.40 after trading between 1,447.40 and 1,464.27. Volume was 12.284 billion shares worth 57.926 billion baht. There were 410 decliners and 97 gainers, with 158 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info and CP All Public both fell 0.38 percent, while Thailand Airport slid 0.39 percent, Bangkok Airways plummeted 6.40 percent, Asset World tanked 2.08 percent, Banpu declined 1.42 percent, Bangkok Bank and Thai Oil both dropped 0.98 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical skidded 0.82 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 0.61 percent, B. Grimm plunged 3.64 percent, BTS Group lost 0.81 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods advanced 0.83 percent, Energy Absolute surrendered 2.20 percent, Gulf tumbled 2.16 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.66 percent, Krung Thai Bank jumped 1.44 percent, Krung Thai Card and TTB Bank both retreated 1.53 percent, PTT Oil & Retail slumped 1.70 percent, PTT sank 0.74 percent, PTT Exploration and Production rallied 2.29 percent, PTT Global Chemical and SCG Packaging both stumbled 1.65 percent, Siam Concrete added 0.41 percent and True Corporation and Siam Commercial Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests very mild upside as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, hugged the like throughout the session and finished barely higher.

The Dow added 39.55 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 42,196.52, while the NASDAQ gained 14.76 points or 0.08 percent to close at 17,925.12 and the S&P 500 perked 0.79 points or 0.01 percent to end at 5,709.54.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about escalating tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on Tuesday.

While Iran has said it is not interested in a wider war, the attacks have contributed to a surge by the price of crude oil, leading to worries higher energy prices will lead to a spike in inflation.

Waning optimism the Federal Reserve will continue to aggressively lower interest rates also weighed on stocks after payroll processor ADP reported stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of September.

Oil futures settled modestly higher on Wednesday as traders bet on a likely drop in supplies due the ongoing tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for November ended up $0.27 or 0.39 percent at $70.10 a barrel.

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