Continued Consolidation Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 40 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,560-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests further consolidation on worldwide recession fears. The European and U.S. markets finished with deep losses and the Asian bourse are also tipped to open in the red.

The SET finished sharply lower on Thursday with damage across the board, especially among the financials and energy producers.

For the day, the index retreated 32.44 points or 2.04 percent to finish at 1,561.10 after trading between 1,560.94 and 1,607.19. Volume was 25.519 billion shares worth 97.738 billion baht. There were 1,685 decliners and 316 gainers, with 228 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info surrendered 3.16 percent, while Thailand Airport and Bangkok Bank both lost 1.10 percent, Banpu tanked 3.01 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical dropped 2.05 percent, Bangkok Expressway plummeted 3.35 percent, B. Grimm fell 1.49 percent, BTS Group slipped 1.80 percent, CP All Public retreated 2.85 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods weakened 1.89 percent, Energy Absolute lost 2.67 percent, Gulf and PTT Global Chemical both skidded 2.16 percent, IRPC gave away 2.94 percent, Kasikornbank shed 1.33 percent, Krung Thai Bank and PTT Oil & Retail both sank 1.90 percent, Krung Thai Card slumped 2.15 percent, PTT plunged 3.47 percent, PTT Exploration and Production stumbled 1.78 percent, Siam Commercial Bank declined 2.75 percent and TTB Bank dipped 1.59 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained deep in the red throughout the day, finishing near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 741.46 points or 2.42 percent to finish at 29,927.07, while the NASDAQ plunged 453.06 points or 4.08 percent to close at 10,646.10 and the S&P 500 dropped 123.22 points or 3.25 percent to end at 3,666.77.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected concerns aggressive monetary policy action by central banks around the world may trigger a global recession.

Following the Federal Reserve's widely expected 75 basis point interest rate hike on Wednesday, central banks in Switzerland, England and Taiwan, among others, also decided to hike rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction in the U.S. plunged more than expected May.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday after prices rebounded as tight supply levels outweighed concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.27 or 2 percent at $117.58 a barrel.