Thai Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Thursday

The Thai stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, rising almost 25 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,545-point plateau although the rally may stall on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on economic growth concerns, coronavirus woes and tumbling oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly higher on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index added 5.35 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 1,545.86 after trading between 1,533.36 and 1,548.63. Volume was 26.309 billion shares worth 66.896 billion baht. There were 863 decliners and 719 gainers, with 545 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info climbed 1.13 percent, while Bangkok Bank shed 0.49 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical advanced 0.88 percent, Gulf skyrocketed 6.67 percent, Krung Thai Card rallied 2.01 percent, PTT Oil & Retail tumbled 1.75 percent, PTT lost 0.71 percent, PTT Exploration and Production gained 0.47 percent, PTT Global Chemical fell 0.43 percent, SCG Packaging slid 0.37 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.52 percent, Siam Concrete was down 0.47 percent and TTB Bank, Thailand Airport, Bangkok Expressway, BTS Group, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Kasikornbank and Krung Thai Bank all were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains inconsistent as the Dow and S&P opened firmly lower on Wednesday and stayed that way – but the NASDAQ hugged the unchanged line and finished slightly higher.

The Dow tumbled 323.73 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 34,792, while the NASDAQ rose 19.24 points or 0.13 percent to close at 14,780.53 and the S&P 500 sank 20.49 points or 0.46 percent to end at 4,402.66.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the pace of U.S. economic growth after payroll processor ADP said private sector employment increased less than expected in July.

On Friday, the Labor Department will release its more closely watched monthly jobs report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.

A steep drop by shares of General Motors (GM) also weighed on Wall Street, with the auto giant plunging by 8.9 percent to a five-month closing low after the company reported second quarter earnings that missed estimates.

Crude oil prices plummeted again on Wednesday, extending the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions following an unexpected increase in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude sank $2.41 or 3.4 percent to $68.15 a barrel.

Closer to home, Thailand will see July results for inflation and for consumer confidence later today. In June, overall inflation was up 1.25 percent on year and core CPI rose an annual 0.52 percent. The consumer confidence index score was 43.1.

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