Lower Open Anticipated For Thai Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after ending the five-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 15 points or 1.2 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now sits just above the 1,300-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourse were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SET finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the food, consumer, finance, industrial and technology sectors.

For the day, the index sank 10.40 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 1,302.91 after trading between 1,302.46 and 1,314.63. Volume was 5.461 billion shares worth 29.054 billion baht. There were 287 decliners and 185 gainers, with 177 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info added 0.32 percent, while Thailand Airport rallied 1.86 percent, Asset World jumped 1.90 percent, Banpu skidded 1.22 percent, Bangkok Bank retreated 1.59 percent, Bangkok Dusit Medical and TTB Bank both shed 0.54 percent, Bangkok Expressway advanced 0.90 percent, B. Grimm lost 0.63 percent, BTS Group plummeted 2.16 percent, Charoen Pokphand Foods dropped 0.96 percent, Energy Absolute tumbled 2.01 percent, Gulf fell 0.56 percent, Kasikornbank declined 1.64 percent, Krung Thai Bank sank 0.90 percent, Krung Thai Card slumped 0.88 percent, PTT Oil & Retail surrendered 2.07 percent, PTT slipped 0.81 percent, PTT Global Chemical contracted 1.44 percent, SCG Packaging stumbled 2.25 percent, Siam Commercial Bank tanked 2.26 percent, Siam Concrete dipped 0.26 percent, Thai Oil plunged 2.13 percent and True Corporation, PTT Exploration and Production and CP All Public were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cloudy as the major averages spent most of Friday under water before a late push salvaged a mixed close.

The Dow added 74.80 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 46,987.10, while the NASDAQ sank 49.46 points or 0.21 percent to close at 23,004.54 and the S&P 500 rose 8.48 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,728.80.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ plunged 3.0 percent, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.7 percent and the Dow slumped 1.2 percent.

The recovery in afternoon trading reflected optimism about an end to the prolonged government shutdown following an offer from top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer - although Republicans turned the offer down later in the day.

Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has deteriorated much more than anticipated in November; consumers are now expressing worries about potential negative economic consequences of the shutdown as the stalemate exceeds one month.

Crude oil prices saw modest gains on Friday as a weakening dollar was offset by reports of oversupply and low demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.38 or 0.64 percent at $59.81 per barrel.