The Thai stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, sliding almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,510-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher, although most of the regional bourses are closed for the Lunar New Year. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The SET finished modestly lower on Thursday as the financial shares and energy producers were mostly in the red.
For the day, the index sank 8.59 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 1,508.35 after trading between 1,503.19 and 1,521.31. Volume was 24.184 billion shares worth 106.410 billion baht. There were 1,049 decliners and 504 gainers, with 465 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.29 percent, while Asset World tanked 2.04 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical tumbled 1.89 percent, Bangkok Expressway lost 0.62 percent, BTS Group fell 0.53 percent, Gulf sank 0.71 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.35 percent, PTT skidded 1.23 percent, PTT Exploration and Production added 0.45 percent, PTT Global Chemical and Thailand Airport both dropped 0.78 percent, SCG Packaging gained 0.52 percent, Siam Commercial Bank dropped 0.93 percent, Siam Concrete dipped 0.27 percent, TMB Bank retreated 0.85 percent and Bangkok Asset Management, Bangkok Bank, Charoen Pokphand Foods and Krung Thai Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street continues to be directionless as stocks hugged both sides of the unchanged line on Thursday and finally finished mixed and flat.
The Dow eased 7.10 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 31,430.70, while the NASDAQ gained 53.24 points or 0.38 percent to end at 14,025.77 and the S&P 500 rose 6.50 points or 0.17 percent to close at 3,916.38.
The chopping trading on Wall Street came as buying interest was somewhat subdued following recent strength, but traders also largely refrained from cashing in on the recent gains amid concerns about missing out on further upside.
Optimism about additional stimulus continued to support the markets along with largely upbeat earnings news, a slowdown in the rate of coronavirus infections and accelerated vaccine rollouts.
In economic news, the Labor Department said jobless claims decreased from an upwardly revised level but came in above estimates.
Traders have recently looked for the silver lining in most major economic data, seeing upbeat data as positive for the economy and seeing weaker than expected data as putting pressure on lawmakers to pass more stimulus.
Crude oil futures ended lower on Thursday, taking a breather after eight straight days of gains. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $58.24 a barrel, losing $0.44 or 0.8 percent.
Market Analysis
Steady Start Anticipated For Thai Stock Market
2021-02-12 02:02:36
