Continued Consolidation Called For Thai Stock Market

The Thai stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 35 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,630-point plateau and it’s expected to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns for the global economy and for the outlook for interest rates, with technology stocks particularly likely to slide. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index shed 13.72 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 1,629.58 after trading between 1,617.94 and 1,634.65. Volume was 23.542 billion shares worth 72.642 billion baht. There were 1,524 decliners and 372 gainers, with 335 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Thailand Airport skidded 1.12 percent, while Banpu advanced 0.81 percent, Bangkok Bank dropped 0.78 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical was down 0.40 percent, Bangkok Expressway dipped 0.61 percent, B. Grimm stumbled 3.13 percent, CP All Public surrendered 2.26 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 2.01 percent, Gulf declined 1.05 percent, IRPC retreated 1.15 percent, Kasikornbank fell 0.34 percent, Krung Thai Bank slid 0.68 percent, PTT shed 0.67 percent, PTT Global Chemical lost 0.70 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tumbled 1.73 percent, TTB Bank sank 0.78 percent and PTT Exploration and Production, PTT Oil & Retail and Krung Thai Card were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages spent most of Friday bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally settling in the red.

The Dow dropped 98.63 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 32,899.37, while the NASDAQ tumbled 173.04 points or 1.40 percent to end at 12,144.66 and the S&P 500 sank 23.53 points or 0.57 percent to close at 4,123.34. For the week, the NASDAQ slumped 1.5 percent and the Dow and the S&P both eased 0.2 percent.

The lower close on Wall Street followed the closely watched Labor Department report showing stronger than expected job growth in April.

With the report showing continued strength in the labor market, economists predicted the Federal Reserve will now continue with its plans to raise interest rates sharply over the coming months.

Worries about the outlook for interest rates may have weighed on Wall Street along with a continued increase in treasury yields.

Crude oil prices closed higher on Friday, and posted a weekly gain as well, amid worries about supply following the European Union’s decision proposing some of its toughest measures yet against Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $1.51 or 1.4 percent at $109.77 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained nearly 5 percent in the week.