Thai Stock Market Poised To Extend Losing Streak

The Thai stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,650-point plateau and it’s looking at another red light again for Monday’s trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on continuing fears over the outlook for interest rates, with oil and technology stocks expected to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares an the energy producers.

For the day, the index slipped 4.23 points or 0,26 percent to finish at 1,652.73 after trading between 1,641.86 and 1,655.42. Volume was 29.877 billion shares worth 81.426 billion baht. There were 1,231 decliners and 514 gainers, with 484 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.45 percent, while Thailand Airport advanced 0.80 percent, Asset World gained 0.43 percent, Banpu dropped 0.92 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.52 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical climbed 1.39 percent, Bangkok Expressway improved 0.62 percent, CP All Public increased 0.86 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods jumped 1.98 percent, Energy Absolute gathered 0.53 percent, Gulf skidded 0.99 percent, IRPC declined 1.50 percent, Kasikornbank shed 0.71 percent, Krung Thai Bank lost 0.72 percent, PTT Oil & Retail perked 1.00 percent, PTT tumbled 1.90 percent, PTT Exploration and Production sank 0.78 percent, PTT Global Chemical slumped 0.87 percent, SCG Packaging perked 0.41 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dipped 0.40 percent, Siam Concrete was down 0.53 percent, True Corporation was up 0.42 percent, TTB Bank plunged 2.11 percent and BTS Group and Krung Thai Card were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major U.S. markets were down again on Friday, hugging both sides of the unchanged line in the morning before going into freefall in the afternoon to end in the red for the fourth straight session.

For the day, the Dow plummeted 450.02 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 34,265.37, while the NASDAQ plunged 385.10 points or 2.72 percent to close at 13.768.92 and the S&P 500 tumbled 84.79 points or 1.89 percent to end at 4,397.94.

The particularly harsh drop on the NASDAQ was fueled by a weak earnings report from Netflix, which set off a cascade of selling pressure among the other markets.

Surging bond prices also drove the markets lower, exacerbating interest rate concerns; most analysts believe a rate hike of at least 25 basis points from the FOMC is imminent in March.

Oil prices fell finished lower on Friday for the second straight session, although they came up from session lows. Crude’s correction continued after touching a seven-year high earlier in the week on demand optimism and short-term supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 0.86 percent at $84.81 per barrel after falling as much as 3.2 percent earlier.