Thai Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Friday

The Thai stock market has finished lower in back-to-back trading days, sinking almost a dozen points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just beneath the 1,570-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over tax rates in the United States. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index sank 11.80 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 1,568.21 after trading between 1,564.83 and 1,587.95. Volume was 30.628 billion shares worth 93.330 billion baht. There were 1,259 decliners and 426 gainers, with 365 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info tumbled 1.96 percent, while Thailand Airport retreated 1.54 percent, Asset World sank 0.83 percent, Bangkok Asset Management shed 0.48 percent, Bangkok Bank tanked 2.37 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical skidded 1.38 percent, BTS Group lost 0.55 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods declined 0.85 percent, Gulf and Kasikornbank both surrendered 2.14 percent, Krung Thai Bank weakened 1.72 percent, PTT Oil & Retail fell 0.83 percent, PTT slid 0.64 percent, PTT Global Chemical dipped 1.19 percent, SCG Packaging was down 0.50 percent, Siam Commercial Bank collected 0.47 percent, Siam Concrete jumped 1.90 percent, TMB Bank gave away 1.65 percent and Bangkok Expressway and PTT Exploration and Production were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages showed little movement early on Thursday but headed due south in the afternoon to finish firmly in the red.

The Dow tumbled 321.41 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 33,815.90, while the NASDAQ skidded 131.81 points or 0.94 percent to end at 13,818.41 and the S&P 500 sank 38.44 points or 0.92 percent to close at 4,134.98.

The afternoon sell-off came following reports that President Joe Biden plans to propose nearly doubling the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals to fund spending on childcare and education.

Earlier in the day, traders saw a Labor Department report unexpectedly show a continued decline in initial jobless claims last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors noted another steep drop in U.S. existing home sales in March.

Crude oil futures rebounded from early losses to settle slightly higher on Thursday, gaining for the first time in three sessions as worries about the energy demand outlook weighed on oil prices early in the day. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.08 or 0.1 percent at $61.43 a barrel.

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