Losses May Accelerate For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The stock market has tracked lower in four straight sessions, sinking more than 30 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just beneath the 1,540-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over growth and on the U.S. debt ceiling. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SET finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the technology, service, property, financial and industrials sectors were mitigated by support from the food and energy shares.

For the day, the index dipped 1.54 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 1,539.84 after trading between 1,536.36 and 1,545.74. Volume was 14.923 billion shares worth 53.189 billion baht.

Among the actives, Advanced Info gained 0.95 percent, while Thailand Airport declined 1.71 percent, Banpu soared 3.07 percent, Bangkok Bank shed 0.62 percent, B. Grimm added 0.68 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 1.00 percent, Gulf sank 0.52 percent, Kasikornbank skidded 1.09 percent, PTT Exploration and Production spiked 2.42 percent, PTT Global Chemical tumbled 1.91 percent, Siam Commercial Bank retreated 1.42 percent, Siam Concrete improved 1.20 percent, True Corporation rallied 2.13 percent, TTB Bank lost 0.67 percent and SCG Packaging, Krung Thai Bank, Asset World, CP All Public, Bangkok Dusit Medical, Bangkok Expressway, Energy Absolute, PTT Oil & Retail, PTT and Thai Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday. The NASDAQ spent some time in positive territory but they all finished solidly in the red.

The Dow plunged 336.46 points or 1.01 percent to finish at 33,012.14, while the NASDAQ dipped 22.16 points or 0.18 percent to end at 12,345.05 and the S&P 500 sank 26.38 points or 0.64 percent to close at 4,109.90.

The steep drop by the Dow was partly due to a decrease by shares of Home Depot (HD), with the home improvement retailer falling by 2.2 percent after it reported weaker than expected first quarter revenues and lowered its full-year guidance.

Ongoing concerns about the U.S. debt ceiling also generated some negative sentiment as President Joe Biden meets with top congressional leaders with no resolution.

Traders were also reacting to a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, including separate reports showing weaker than expected retail sales growth and an unexpected increase in industrial output.

Oil prices drifted lower Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand following disappointing Chinese data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $0.25 or 0.4 percent at $70.86 a barrel.