Losing Streak May Continue For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, slipping more than 40 points or 3.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,235-point plateau and it may extend its losses again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh on the markets. The European markets were up and the Asian bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SET finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the food, consumer, industrial, property, resource and technology sectors.

For the day, the index shed 6.55 points or 0.53 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,235.76 after peaking at 1,248.40. Volume was 8.945 billion shares worth 39.590 billion baht. There were 269 decliners and 198 gainers, with 172 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info slumped 1.36 percent, while Thailand Airport gained 0.66 percent, Asset World rallied 2.54 percent, Banpu declined 1.27 percent, Bangkok Bank advanced 0.98 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical lost 0.47 percent, Bangkok Expressway was down 0.93 percent, B. Grimm dropped 0.89 percent, BTS Group surged 4.17 percent, CP All Public skidded 1.10 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods retreated 1.26 percent, Energy Absolute tanked 2.29 percent, Kasikornbank collected 0.30 percent, Krung Thai Bank shed 0.41 percent, PTT Oil & Retail sank 0.76 percent, PTT contracted 1.55 percent, PTT Exploration and Production cratered 2.65 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.78 percent, SCG Packaging plunged 2.92 percent, Siam Commercial Bank slipped 0.39 percent, Siam Concrete surrendered 1.95 percent, Thai Oil plummeted 4.69 percent, True Corporation jumped 1.85 percent, TTB Bank added 0.52 percent and Krung Thai Card and Gulf were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and spent most of the day in the red, although the Dow peeked up above the line at the end.

The Dow rose 10.45 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 44,922.27, while the NASDAQ tumbled 314.82 points or 1.46 percent to end at 21,314.95 and the S&P 500 sank 37.78 points or 0.59 percent to close at 6,411.37.

The slump by the NASDAQ came amid weakness in the tech sector, with shares of Nvidia (NVDA) plunging by 3.5 percent following reports that the company is developing a new AI chip for China.

On the other hand, the Dow benefitted from a surge by shares of Home Depot (HD), as the home improvement retailer shot up 3.2 percent after the company maintained its full-year guidance despite missing on Q2 results.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting later today and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that gets underway on Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at the symposium on Friday, with remarks potentially impacting the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil declined on Tuesday amid supply side concerns as OPEC continues to unwind 2.2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts by its member nations. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.07 or 1.69 percent at $62.35 per barrel.