Continued Consolidation Called For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in back-to-back trading days, slipping almost 5 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,555-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of quarterly earnings and on renewed pandemic concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SET finished barely lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

For the day, the index eased 0.47 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 1,557.40 after trading between 1,548.87 and 1,560.01. Volume was 15.003 billion shares worth 46.061 billion baht. There were 990 decliners and 601 gainers, with 524 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Asset World added 0.41 percent, while Banpu rallied 2.38 percent, Bangkok Bank collected 0.77 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Charoen Pokphand Foods both dropped 0.93 percent, Bangkok Expressway gained 0.58 percent, B. Grimm soared 3.42 percent, CP All Public sank 0.79 percent, Energy Absolute advanced 0.96 percent, Gulf strengthened 1.59 percent, Kasikornbank jumped 1.74 percent, Krung Thai Card shed 0.45 percent, PTT retreated 1.45 percent, PTT Exploration and Production climbed 1.57 percent, PTT Global Chemical skidded 1.10 percent, SCG Packaging rose 0.47 percent, Siam Commercial Bank surged 3.29 percent, Thai Oil slumped 0.49 percent, True Corporation improved 0.42 percent and TTB Bank, Advanced Info, Thailand Airport, BTS Group, IRPC, Krung Thai Bank, PTT Oil & Retail and Siam Concrete were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened firmly lower on Monday and largely remained that way throughout the session.

The Dow sank 164.31 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 31.173.84, while the NASDAQ plummeted 262.71 points or 2.26 percent to finish at 11,372.60 and the S&P 500 dropped 44.95 points or 1.15 percent to end at 3,854.43.

Renewed Covid concerns contributed to the weakness on Wall Street as Shanghai reported its first case of the highly infectious BA.5 omicron sub-variant, raising fears of more lockdowns.

Macau also closed all its casinos for the first time in over two years on Monday after a coronavirus outbreak in the world's biggest gambling hub.

Light trading activity may have exaggerated the downward move, as some traders stuck to the sidelines amid a lack of major U.S. economic data and corporate earnings.

Crude oil prices slipped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid a surge in coronavirus cases in China, while the dollar's jump amid expectations of sharp interest rate hikes also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.70 or 0.7 percent at $104.90 a barrel.