Continued Consolidation Expected For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking more than 40 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,600-point plateau and it's looking at another weak lead for Tuesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on fears of n economic slowdown and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 32.56 points or 1.99 percent to finish at 1,600.06 after trading between 1,599.34 and 1,616.31. Volume was 20.533 billion shares worth 73.466 billion baht. There were 1,769 decliners and 301 gainers, with 146 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info eased 0.48 percent, while Thailand Airport dipped 0.73 percent, Bangkok Bank skidded 1.12 percent, BTS Group fell 1.18 percent, CP All Public shed 2.76 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods slid 0.95 percent, Energy Absolute dipped 2.27 percent, Gulf slumped 2.20 percent, IRPC cratered 2.86 percent, Kasikornbank lost 1.67 percent, Krung Thai Bank dropped 1.27 percent, Krung Thai Card surrendered 2.45 percent, PTT Oil & Retail plunged 3.70 percent, PTT declined 2.67 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 4.23 percent, Siam Commercial Bank sank 3.14 percent, True Corporation gave away 1.73 percent, TTB Bank retreated 1.57 percent and Banpu, Bangkok Dusit Medical and PTT Exploration and Production were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened sharply lower on Monday and only got worse as the day progressed, ending deep in the red.

The Dow plummeted 876.05 points or 2.79 percent to finish at 30,516 billion baht, while the NASDAQ plunged 530.80 points or 4.68 percent to close at 10,809.23 and the S&P 500 dropped 151.23 points or 3.88 percent to close at 3,749.63.

The extended sell-off on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about inflation and the outlook for interest rates after last Friday's report showing a jump in consumer prices.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, with the central bank expected to continuing raising interest rates in an effort to combat inflation.

While the Fed's rate hikes have been widely anticipated for months, traders seem increasingly concerned tighter monetary policy could trigger a period of stagflation or an outright recession.

Crude oil futures rebounded from early losses and settled modestly higher on Monday as concerns about global supplies outweighed demand worries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.26 or 0.2 percent at $120.93 a barrel.