Thai Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

The Thai stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 25 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,530-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft ahead of key U.S. employment data later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Thai stock market finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the food, finance, technology, service and energy sectors.

For the day, the index retreated 21.27 points or 1.37 percent to finish at 1,529.01 after trading between 1,528.63 and 1,546.11. Volume was 14.089 billion shares worth 51.353 billion baht. There were 361 decliners and 123 gainers, with 157 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tanked 1.77 percent, while Thailand Airport slumped 1.40 percent, Asset World stumbled 1.85 percent, Banpu weakened 1.60 percent, Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial Bank both dropped 0.89 percent, Bangkok Expressway lost 1.67 percent, B. Grimm surrendered 1.95 percent, BTS Group plunged 3.13 percent, CP All Public declined 2.78 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.50 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 2.88 percent, Gulf slumped 2.01 percent, Kasikornbank tumbled 1.99 percent, Krung Thai Bank tanked 1.97 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.54 percent, PTT Oil & Retail sank 1.88 percent, PTT dove 1.42 percent, PTT Exploration and Production dropped 1.85 percent, PTT Global Chemical declined 1.27 percent, SCG Packaging lost 0.63 percent, Thai Oil stumbled 0.97 percent, True Corporation plummeted 3.50 percent, TTB Bank plunged 2.37 percent and Siam Concrete and Bangkok Dusit Medical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, rallied midday but sank back into the red heading into the close.

The Dow shed 66.63 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 35,215.89, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.73 points or 0.10 percent to close at 13,858.71 and the S&P 500 fell 11.50 points or 0.25 percent to end at 4,501.89.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected continued concerns about U.S. debt after credit rating agency Fitch Ratings unexpectedly downgraded the United States’ credit rating earlier this week.

Selling pressure remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Institute for Supply Management reported a modest slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in July.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Thursday after Saudi Arabia announced that it would extend its production cut to next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.06 or 2.6 percent at $81.66 a barrel.