Losing Streak May Continue For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slipping not quite 6 points or 0.4 percent in that span. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,375-point plateau and it maty extend its losses on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the food, finance, industrial, property and technology sectors.

For the day, the index dipped 1.80 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 1,373.89 after trading between 1,368.80 and 1,379.41. Volume was 7.248 billion shares worth 30.663 billion baht. There were 342 decliners and 150 gainers, with 171 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.49 percent, while Thailand Airport gathered 0.38 percent, Asset World added 0.48 percent, Banpu and Siam Commercial Bank both dropped 0.89 percent, Bangkok Bank fell 0.36 percent, B. Grimm climbed 0.92 percent, BTS Group rallied 2.63 percent, CP All Public increased 0.91 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods and TTB Bank both skidded 1.11 percent, Energy Absolute plummeted 3.01 percent, Gulf strengthened 1.17 percent, Krung Thai Bank rallied 1.22 percent, Krung Thai Card collected 0.56 percent, PTT Oil & Retail gained 0.55 percent, PTT improved 0.72 percent, PTT Exploration and Production perked 0.32 percent, PTT Global Chemical plunged 2.44 percent, SCG Packaging advanced 0.84 percent, Siam Concrete slid 0.39 percent, Thai Oil declined 1.27 percent and True Corporation, Kasikornbank, Bangkok Dusit Medical and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and spent much of the day in positive territory before a late plunge sent them deep into the red.

The Dow plummeted 530.16 points or 1.35 percent to finish at 38,596.98, while the NASDAQ tumbled 228.38 points or 1.40 percent to close at 16,049.08 and the S&P 500 sank 64.28 points or 1.23 percent to end at 5,147.21.

The late-day sell-off on Wall Street came amid a continued surge by the price of crude oil, which advanced for the fifth straight session and reached its highest levels since last October - raising concerns higher that energy prices will keep inflation elevated and convince the Federal Reserve to hold off on lowering interest rates.

Oil prices moved higher on Thursday, extending recent gains amid concerns about supply disruptions due to geopolitical tensions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.16 or 1.4 percent at $86.59 a barrel, gaining for a fifth straight session.

Earlier in the session, stocks benefited from a positive reaction to a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected last week.

The advance by jobless claims generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates, although the likelihood of a rate cut in June remains uncertain.

Closer to home, Thailand will release March data for consumer prices later today; in February, overall inflation fell 0.77 percent on year and core CPI rose an annual 0.43 percent.